SongShots
by Chaos Dragon
Summary: A series of unrelated song based oneshots. Individual summaries and ratings inside overall rated M to be safe.
1. What's it Feel Like to be a Ghost?

**_What's it Feel Like to be a Ghost_ is by Taking Back Sunday from the album _Louder Now_.**

**For challengeAUTHORITY, a great sounding board. Thanks for tolerating my tendency to share ideas when I have no one else's ear; it kept me from dying of plot-bunny-itis. :D**

---

When Danny finally decides to tell Sam how he feels about her, it's the greatest day of his life. Until something completely unexpected happens, and Danny faces the possibility of losing Sam. Forever.

_Rated: T_

---

What's it Feel Like to be a Ghost

**And then you said a little more about your dreams, like it was my call (my call)  
If you would only listen, bypassed everything and went straight for the neck  
(I study) We study (Up nightly)  
Dragged you out into the streets  
Before you buckled at your knees (buckled at your knees)**

It had taken Danny the better part of two years to gather his courage, gird his loins and suck it up enough to tell Sam how he felt. Sure, the length and breadth of his freshman year had been spent oblivious to the fact that she cared, interspersed with his pathetic attempts at catching Paulina's eye and his hopeless romance with one Valerie Gray. But he'd caught on towards the middle of their sophomore year. And had sat on it for the rest of that year, and then nursed the wonder, the fear, the desperate lovesick hope all through their junior year.

And here it was, just past Thanksgiving and more than halfway through the first semester of senior year and he still hadn't said anything. Done anything. Even admitted anything beyond his own whispered thoughts at three in the morning as he lay in his bed staring at the ceiling or floated above the city staring at the stars. It was pathetic. _He_ was pathetic.

But not anymore. He was going to tell her and damn the consequences.

But, he figured, it was a good thing he was already half dead. The way his heart was currently thumping around in his chest would most likely kill him if he weren't. _Of course,_ he thought silently as Sam came into view, waiting with Tucker at their customary meeting point. _It still could._ He had to bite back the sudden need to rub his fingers across his chest, to try and ease the sudden aching tension that grew there when he saw her.

She was so beautiful. She was always beautiful, and even the scowl on her face from the school day from hell didn't make her any less beautiful. She hadn't changed much in all the time he'd known her. Still way ahead of him and Tucker in the maturity department, and the brains. Tucker's technogeek status not withstanding. She'd grown taller, though not very much more than when she'd been fourteen.

Oh how it drove her insane, the fact that he and Tucker towered over her.

And she'd let her hair grow. Not very long, just until the tips of it brushed her shoulder blades. It had been the cause of some very embarrassing moments for Danny, always being caught playing with her hair, touching it, sliding his fingers through it when no one was paying attention. Usually not even him. He wouldn't trade any of them for the world.

She sighed as he pulled even with her on the steps outside of school. The crowds were thinning as the other students headed for home, the Nasty Burger, and place but Casper High. By a miracle Danny hadn't scored himself a detention. Tucker had, but not Danny. And Tucker had scored his detention on purpose, knowing that Danny wanted to talk to Sam. To ask her out.

Subtly ask her out, so that he could confess how very much he loved her, and was in love with her.

"I can't help you with your history project, or your English paper," she smirked at him as he gave her a grin.

He pasted on a heart broken puppy dog face. "I wasn't going to ask you for help with either of them." He slung an arm around her shoulders as they made their way down the steps, wondering if he was going to have something broken for doing it. But she didn't say anything, just kind of shot him a surprised look and accepted it. So he added, "I was going to ask you to help me in Spanish."

He never saw the slender hand that moved to whack him in the back of the head and laughed as he phased himself away from any more of her untender mercies. "Uncle! I cry uncle! I was joking!"

"Then what did you want, Danny?" Sam asked as she held one booted foot cocked back at a painful looking angle.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go out with me later. Coffee. Tea. Something like that. I wanted to talk to you about something. Something I want to tell you"

There. it was almost a date. The same exact thing he'd done many times before, but instead of hanging at the Nasty Burger, he was asking her to go elsewhere. So that when he talked to her he could tell her that he hadn't meant it as friends, and he wanted it to be their first date. Tell her he wanted it to be the first of many.

He even had a local in mind, too. A new little pseudo-goth café that had opened up a few months prior. Sam had been raving about how good their cappuccinos were, and something called Echinacea tea. He figured he could stick to the coffee end of things and avoid teas named after plants he'd never heard of. Even if Sam endorsed it, it was still a dangerous thing. She was the one that ate turf sandwiches after all.

She shrugged a little, her face a mask of confusion and hope that made Danny's faltering courage grow tenfold. "Okay, yeah. We could maybe go to the new place?"

He nodded. "Yeah. That's what I was thinking. You, me and some crazily named drinks." And that would tell her in no uncertain terms that he wasn't asking Tucker to go along. "Can you meet me there at eight? I'm supposed to do the requisite brother sister bonding time with Jazz while she's visiting."

Sam smiled and smirked up at him. "Alright. Eight it is."

---

Friday nights were not meant to be shopping nights. Especially Friday nights between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Though Danny had heard the horror stories that his mom and Jazz had exchanged with relish about their shopping the day after Thanksgiving. It had been enough to make him resolve not to ever shop on that day, and proved that it had earned the title of Black Friday.

"Hey, Jazz. It's after seven. Can we hurry it up a little?" Danny asked. He'd been watching the clock on Jazz's dashboard since they'd gotten in the car and began working their way out of the crowded mall parking lot.

She muttered something underneath her breath and then glanced over at Danny. "Hot date?"

"Something like that," Danny said with a shrug as Jazz crept towards the stoplight and salvation beyond the parking lot. "I sort of asked Sam out."

If her eyes hadn't been glued to the road, Jazz would have ogled him. As it was, she was glad she didn't turn to look at him as the light flicked over to green and Jazz pressed down on the accelerator, following several cars into the turn lane and then out to turn to the left. "So you're finally going to tell her?"

A noncommittal noise was all Danny cared to make, knowing that Jazz would start talking to him about it. And Jazz's talking would make the butterflies worse than they already are. Of course, butterflies have a way of dying sudden deaths. Especially when the owner of the stomach that they inhabit happens to look out their window to see a massive semi bearing down on him.

"Uh, Jazz, you need to go faster." His voice was calm. So terribly calm.

"I can't, Danny. The people in front of me are slow."

"Oh. Well. Alright."

Danny's hand shot out and clamped on to his sister, and he felt the tingle run down his arm and out of his hand as he turned her intangible, wondering all the while if anyone would notice the car going intangible and the huge truck driving straight through it to hit the cars behind them. But then it was too late, and the front grill was smashing into the side of the car and driving Danny into darkness.

His last thought was of Sam. _She's going to kill me for not showing up._

**What's it feel like to be a ghost? (Well, louder now, louder now)  
So what's it feel like to be a ghost? (Ahh)  
Are you up for, are you up for this? (Well, are you up for, are you up for…)  
Are you up for, are you up for this? (Well, are you up for, are you up for…)  
**

Eight 'o clock came and went. Then nine, and then ten. By the time eleven was swinging around Sam's heart had broken and she was nearly in tears. She was so sure that he was going to make a move. He'd been antsy all day, and then finally had asked her out. Sure, it was for tea, coffee in his case, but the way he'd said it… And the way he'd Tucker her under his arm. She'd been so sure.

But he wasn't there, and Sam blinked her eyes furiously as she realized she was starting to cry. No. if she was going to cry she would do it at home in the comfort of her own room. She let her tall skinny glass on the table with a twenty and a ten tucked underneath it. Nearly half as much as what the four drinks she'd had were worth, but maybe it'd give someone a better night than she was having.

It was definitely cold and there might be snow by Christmas. It was only two weeks away, and Sam wrapped her arms around herself to try and block the cold out. It didn't work very well; the cold was already inside of her.

Her phone rang twice as she walked home. Both times she flipped it open and the closed, effectively cutting off the caller. It would be Danny, both times. Once had been from his house, and once had been from Tucker's cell. Tucker trying to fix what Danny had messed up. Well, he couldn't do it this time. She wasn't going to sit back and let Danny do this to her over and over again.

It wasn't the first time he'd made plans and not shown up. It wasn't the hundred and first or even the thousand and first, and if whatever he wanted to talk to her about tonight had been so damned important he could have at least called to let her know he'd be late. There it was again, her cell ringing as she fumbled a key from her pocket as she stood on the stoop of her house.

Sam looked at the number. It was one she didn't recognize, and she did the same routine with it. Only this time she quickly went into her voicemail controls and turned her voicemail off. Then she turned the phone off before sliding it back into her pocket and the key in the lock. It was warm in her house, and Sam shivered a little as the cold air that had followed her in swirled around her legs beneath the simple black skirt she'd worn in the hopes that it was an actual date.

Coat hung, she detoured to the family room with Jarrod, the butler, was kicked back on the couch watching the large screen television her father had to have for football season. Her parents were out of town and Sam and her grandmother had never stood on ceremony with any of the people her parents employed. They were very nearly family to Sam, having been more involved in her childhood than her own parents, and Sam would never begrudge Jarrod his Friday night obsession with Doctor Who. More often than not she would join him in it.

But not tonight.

"Are you alright?" he asked, leaning forward on the couch.

Sam shook her head and looked away. "Unless it's my parents, I'm not available for phone calls. Okay?"

She didn't want for an answer and hoped that Jarrod went back to his time travel glories without too much trouble. Sam tried not to think too much as she stripped her boots and clothes off, washed her face and pulled on a nightshirt. But thinking or not, she couldn't stop the tears that came when she crawled into her bed.

---

"She turned her cell phone off. And the voicemail," Tucker said as he flipped his cell phone closed.

"Try her house, Tucker," Jazz ordered. "She needs to be here."

"I already did," he said softly. "She's not taking any calls."

---

By the time Monday morning rolled around Sam had wrapped her armor of indifference around her tightly, shoring up the weak links before she'd even stepped foot outside her house. Her cell phone was still off, but that made no difference. She'd been obstinate and bought a new one, and had a new number. And when the Fenton's showed up over the weekend, asking to see her. She had refused.

And when Jazz and Tucker had shown up in force and refused to leave without speaking to her, she had told Jarrod to warn them that the police would be called. Tucker had known, had left quickly after that. The police had had to escort Jazz from the property, but charges had not been filed. Sam had declined once Jazz had agreed not to overstay her welcome again.

But Monday morning… It was hard. Just getting up had been hard, knowing that she would have to see him. Knowing that he had blown her off so terribly. Like always. She didn't want to hear whatever excuses he had spent the weekend coming up with. It was just like all the other times he'd stood his friends up, whether it was Sam only, or Sam and Tucker.

She was done with it.

She chose her wardrobe accordingly, the snow that had begun falling the night before was a light dusting on the ground as Sam trudged along the sidewalk, abjuring her usual route to take streets where she wouldn't run into Danny. Tucker might understand. Probably would. She'd have to ask his forgiveness before the day was over.

Black jeans that went over her favorite boots. A black sweater that clung to her like a second skin, and a hooded jacket in matte black over that. She'd done her best to cover the circles under her eyes, used as many eye drops as she could, ands till her eyes were red. But that didn't matter. She had absolutely no intentions of looking at him even while she told him to go to hell.

He was irresponsible, lazy. Immature. She didn't need him. As a friend, or anything else.

**This is quick but not quite painless it sits perched on your arm  
Tacky and irrelevant (So what?)  
A permanent reminder that, oh Christ  
(I study) We study (Up nightly)  
Dragged you out into the streets  
Before you buckled at your knees (buckled at your knees)  
**

She didn't stop at her locked before first period. That in itself was unusual, but Sam decided that she'd rather get in trouble for being short a book than having to face him already. First period was boring, but Sam had never been into history the way some people were. Even at its bleakest, it was still something she couldn't take in more than small doses. It was just too depressing to think that humanity was capable of all those terrible things.

He wasn't anywhere around between first and second, or second and third. In fact, she didn't actually run into Danny until after sixth period, when she was dumping her backpack and looking for a disk she needed desperately for her computer lab. It had hours worth of data saved on it, and she was so fixated on finding it that she forgot all about Danny and her plan to avoid him as long as possible.

"Sam."

She closed her eyes against the sudden overwhelming joy at her name on his lips, and bit her lip against the quickly following lance of pain. As calmly as Sam could she began picking her things up out of her locker and shoving them in her backpack, and her eyes staring in disbelief as she saw the disk she'd been searching for poking out from between the pages of her biology textbook. It went in to the bag too, and she heard it again.

"Sam, please."

"I have nothing to say to you, Danny Fenton." She swallowed and continued adding her notebook, a new pen. "I know exactly where I stand with you. And now I know where you stand with me." Her breath hitched as she finally said. "Go away and leave me alone."

"Sam, please. I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. I want to be there so badly." His voice sounded hoarse, like his throat was raw. Like maybe he'd been crying. Not that he would.

She was nearly crying when she finally zipper her bag up and closed her locker door. The hallway was quiet enough that she could hear the soft snick as the lock caught, and Sam smiled sarcastically as she shouldered her book bag, still refusing to look at Danny. _Fine,_ she thought. _Let them see the break up of the lovebirds. Vultures._

"Danny, leave me alone." It was almost a whisper, and Sam had no illusions that it wasn't heard in the echoing silence.

"Sam." He sounded so broken, and she did break when he laid a hand on her shoulder, a touch that burned like fire, even through her layers of clothing.

The tears came, and her voice broke as she did whisper, "I hate you."

In that instant, she meant it. She truly meant it, no matter that the moment after she said it she regretted. No matter that she said it in anger and hurt and it the emotion would never last more than a split second. She did mean it, for that split second she hated the boy she loved best in all the world. Sam turned on her heel, fleeing down the hallway through the hoards of silent classmates, and then out the front doors.

And when Danny didn't follow, she knew he believed it. And for some reason, that hurt more than all the rest combined.

**What's it feel like to be a ghost? (Well, louder now, louder now)  
So what's it feel like to be a ghost? (Ahh)  
Are you up for, are you up for this? (Well, are you up for, are you up for…)  
Are you up for, are you up for this? (Well, are you up for, are you up for…)  
**

She hadn't even looked at him. Not for a moment, not even for a second. Not a glance, not a… Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Danny sighed and winced, his hand straying to his side but careful not to touch it too hard. No ribs were broken, but there had been plenty of bruising and one had been cracked.

_I hate you._

And there it was again, another sigh that bordered on something more, and Danny closed his eyes as he leaned against the row of lockers. He hurt. He hurt everywhere, but not even the physical pain compared to the way his heart felt at those three simple words. There was the sound of metal squeaking in front of him, and when Danny opened his eyes he saw Tucker, who looked almost as upset about it as Danny.

"She doesn't know. I'll talk to her."

Danny shook his head. "You don't have to, Tuck. You already tried. It didn't work. I screwed up."

Tucker snorted. "Yeah, you did. Next time don't just turn Jazz intangible. Add yourself to that list."

Danny grimaced a smile as he accepted the backpack Tucker had been carrying for him. His hero complex, again, and Danny began to limp slowly along the hall to his last period. He was lucky that he shared it with Tucker, because by the time he got there he was barely walking on his own. He'd been stupid to not phase himself during the accident. He'd been stupid to insist he could go to school. The doctor's hadn't even wanted him to be released from the hospital when he'd gotten Jazz to talk his parents into signing him out AMA.

She'd protested, she knew that Danny was hurting pretty bad. But she'd gone along with it because she could understand Danny's desperation to get out. Thusly, he was signed out against medical advice, and then he'd convinced his parents that he was well enough to go back to school two days after the crash. Yeah. He wasn't coming back tomorrow. And maybe not even the day after that. He _hurt_.

Tucker helped Danny to his desk and he eased himself down gingerly. His left wrist was broken. He'd slammed it against the emergency break because he refused to let Jazz go. A mercy that it was his left since he was right handed. If his handwriting was already illegible with his good hand, he didn't want to imagine what it'd be like with the other. The ribs were almost the worst of it, though they said he'd had his internal organs knocked around a bit. Nothing he wasn't used to, but Jazz had explained to him that bruising like that could be very dangerous, perhaps fatal if he wasn't careful to let it heal well.

She and Tucker had volunteered to take ghost duty for a few days. They hoped that the worst of the injuries would be on their way to healed by the time Tucker and Jazz ran into something they couldn't deal with. But they had no way of knowing how his ghost powers would help heal a broken bone. As far as Danny could remember, he'd never broken anything before.

His right knee was badly wrenched, hence why Tucker was helping him out. He'd declined crutches, they would have been a pain considering the shiny white cast on his left wrist. And stitches. Lots of stitches, some hidden in his hair, on the right side of his head. A reminder that head's do not win fights with plates of glass. And across his right cheek, winding down from just above his ear to nearly the corner of his mouth. It hurt like hell to talk, but that was what the meds were for.

Now if the bell would just ring so he could go home and take them.

Oh. There was no chance of school for several more days.

"Mr. Fenton?" Danny turned bleary eyes up to see Mr. Lancer standing in front of him, and then closed them again. He wondered for a moment if he'd managed to get a detention even doing nothing, and then surmised that it was _because_ he was doing nothing. But Mr. Lancer only picked up Danny's book bag and gathered his things, putting them inside before telling Danny to follow him.

Danny did, at a painfully slow gait that had him leaning against lockers every five or so feet, as he tried to catch his breath and tune out the pain.

"Your parents are here."

"What? What did I do?" Danny exclaimed, the surprise and worry overruling the ache throughout his body for a moment.

Lancer gave him a wry smile. "You came to school, Danny. You shouldn't be here; you're still far from well." Without anything else Mr. Lancer wrapped an arm around Danny's waist and helped him limp the rest of the way to the main office, where he was transferred to his father's surprisingly gentle grip.

"Next Monday. I'll have one of the students bring his class work to him every day, and if he needs it I can arrange for a tutor. I'll do it myself if necessary."

Danny watched his mother nod and smile, and her words blurred for a moment. The next thing he knew he was sitting on a chair in the office with his parents looking down at him worriedly, and Danny blinked up at them. "What happened?" he asked.

"Oh, Sweetie. I think you fainted." Maddie held out a hand and Danny saw his prescription of Percocet in it. "You didn't take any, did you?"

"Not at school. It's a drug, and it makes me sleepy."

"No more school this week, Mister. And you're going to wear your sling, and stay in bed. And," she added with mock severity, since she knew Danny had been trying to do the right thing by not taking the pills to school, "You'll take your medicine like you're supposed to.

Danny nodded. "Alright, Mom. Can we go home now? I don't feel too good."

---

"If it weren't for the fact that you look like hell, I'd call you lucky." Tucker laughed at the drugged look in his best friend's eyes. The usually bright blue was a little blurry, and definitely somewhere in outer space.

But they did a really good imitation of a scowl as Danny looked up from the Lit text he was trying (key word being trying) to read and make sense of. "Right. Next time, _you_ have the accident, so that the girl you love can decide she hates you because she thinks you stood her up again."

Blue eyes flickered back down. Green eyes widened and Tucker's jaw dropped.

"That's _it_? All it took to get you to admit it was narcotics? Well hell." He grimaced and tugged his beret off, tossing it to the foot of the bed as Danny followed a line of print with his finger. Three times in a row. The same line. And Tucker sighed and took the book away.

"Dude, so not working out. Maybe you should try again after the drugs wear off a little, huh?"

Danny shrugged and leaned back against his pillows. "Lancer's gonna be here at eight. Tutoring or somethin' like that."

Tucker bit back the chuckle. "You're funny when you slur your words."

Danny didn't respond and Tucker watched him for a moment before realizing that the boy had fallen asleep. More like slipped into something drug induced, but same difference at that point. It was Wednesday, and the accident had been five days ago. Six nights if you wanted to be technical. The first of Danny's three follow up appointments had happened that morning, and other than the internal bruising being much better, and the crack along the one rib knitting up at a respectable rate, nothing had changed. Danny was still hurting, and from more than just the accident.

Jazz was too, she'd lost her car, and she had confessed to Tucker that she felt like she was responsible for what happened between Sam and Danny. in fact, she had made it a point to make arrangements to come home every weekend until Danny was better. He'd need first aid a lot more while he was already injured, than before. And he'd never been particularly graceful during fights, so… She'd only just gone back to school in Chicago.

Which left Tucker alone on the ghost fighting front, but they weren't telling Danny. they were hoping that Valerie and, by some miracle, the Fenton's could pick up the slack until Danny was well enough to take up the fight again himself. But Jazz couldn't miss anymore or she'd fall behind further than she could afford to. Tucker had told her to go. And he'd told her he had it covered.

And he did. Or would, if he could just convince Sam to help out.

Tucker only tugged the blanket that had fallen to Danny's waist while he tried to study up around his shoulders and took the books and papers, laying them neatly on the nightstand. He tossed a quick goodbye down the stairs to the lab so that they'd know to go check on Danny every now and then, and resolutely Tucker began trudging to Sam's house.

They hadn't really talked much since school on Monday. Tucker had spent so much time trying to help Danny around, and then when the confrontation happened… No. he hadn't really talked to her, and he'd been sort of avoiding her ever since. Like he was afraid of what he might say to her. He was angry, he really was and wanted to be. But at the same time he could understand, even almost sympathize with Sam's reaction to Danny's standing her up.

Except she didn't know. He knew that she didn't know, because she had been in class, out of class, and rushing around avoiding him right back. She wouldn't have heard the whispers in the halls that started with Sam and Danny breaking up, though Tucker was beginning to think he was the only one besides the two in question who actually believed that they were dating. He knew better. But he knew that she tuned them out at that point and didn't hear the part where Danny was pitied. Sure, he'd stood her up. But the school buzzed with the fact that it had been a car accident that had kept him from going.

Tucker knew she was ignoring the reactions she got from people right now. But it wouldn't be too long before she couldn't. Where their classmates had been completely indifferent to her before, aside from the razzing she got because of Danny, they were much more hostile now. It wasn't fair. To her. To him. To any of the three.

He knocked. And waited. And when the butler opened the door he was surprised to be ushered in and sent up to Sam's room without a comment other than, "She was expecting you."

He stood there in the open doorway watching her for a minute before she broke the silence. "I saw you coming."

"Oh. I was at Danny's." Silence, her back still to him. "He's… Um, we need help with the ghost fighting. Danny needs help."

Sam tensed, her shoulders squared and she turned to Tucker. He was surprised to see how upset she looked. Her eyes were still bloodshot, and puffy. Like she'd been crying right before he came up. Her cheeks were paler than normal, even if her skin was usually as pale as ivory. And she looked like she hadn't slept in days. He spared a thought for a silent commendation to her skills with makeup—he would never have known she was taking it so hard if he hadn't seen her outside of school—and then her voice cut the air between them.

"I don't care, Tuck. I'm done with it. I'm done with him."

Silence again, and then her voice came, much less steady than before. "Please don't talk about him to me. Don't even say his name."

Because it hurt too much. He wasn't blind, he could see it. Too bad she refused to.

**I said so, look closely, there might be something you'd like  
What was it like? (Oh and I...)  
Looked so close, it's been months who knows if I  
Will get this right? (Oh and I..)  
Look so closely, there might be something you'd like  
What was it like?  
**

Three weeks had been enough time for Danny's knee to heal well enough that, provided he didn't try and perform any gymnastic feats on it, it held him up well enough. The cast was ever present, though he'd forgone the sling a week before. It kept getting in his way, and as long as he didn't do anything foolish, his wrist didn't hurt him too badly. The ribs were sound, the bruising all healed, and the stitches had been removed after ten days. In Tucker's more amused moments he referred to Danny as 'Captain Danny' and asked him to get Captain Jack's autograph.

The scar wasn't bad, but it _was_ a scar, and noticeable, too since it was still a vivid pink against his fair skin. He'd been assured that after six months or so, it would be nearly invisible, so finely had it been stitched. But it did annoy him, and he was grateful that he didn't have to shave every day like some of the men he knew. Once every three or four days was good enough; his facial hair was thick or fast growing by any standard.

He'd seen her a handful of times since the day he'd tried to explain it to her. She hadn't seen him, she was always in a hurry wherever she went in the school, and kept her head down. Like she was afraid she might see him. Might have to acknowledge that he existed, and she'd really just rather pretend he didn't. They only shared one class, and she was always the last one on, first one out. She never turned around and, the one day he thought he might get the chance to talk to her, she had walked out of the classroom without looking back just so she wouldn't have to work with him.

That had been the week before, and it had earned her the new name of Ice Princess though the less charitable called her the Ice Bitch. If she noticed, Danny couldn't tell.

It was lunch time, and Danny was sitting inside, avoiding the table in the courtyard where he usually sat with Sam and Tucker. He'd done that since his first day back after the aborted attempt that had his dad carrying him to the RV because he was just too weak to make it on his own. Tucker was with him, and they were eating silently. Or rather, they were both pretending to eat while really just pushing the food around on their plates.

And Sam was sitting beneath a tree, outside, alone. She looked so sad.

"Tuck, go sit with Sam, okay?" Danny asked quietly as he shoved his tray back and massaged his elbow above the cast.

"Are you sure?" Tucker asked, looking at Danny surprised.

Danny nodded. "She needs you more than I do right now. I can get around on my own again, remember?"

Tucker nodded and took his tray, dumping it in the garbage on his way out the door. Danny watched as Tucker dropped to the grass next to Sam, saw the way she hugged Tucker tightly, said something he couldn't hope to hear. His good hand, his right hand, pressed against the glass of the window for a second as he wished that it was him out there with her, that it was him she was hugging.

But it wasn't meant to be, and Danny stood up, collected his backpack and tray, shouldering the one, dumping the other out before heading out of the cafeteria and to his next class. No one would mind that he was twenty minutes early.

He missed the way she stared at the window he'd been sitting next to moments after he left.

---

"That hurts, damn it!" Danny tried not to writhe beneath his sister's not so tender ministrations as she poked at his newest and apparently recurring battle wound.

"Daniel Andrew Fenton, if you move again so help me I'll cut the thing off."

He stopped moving immediately but couldn't help but taste blood as he bit into his lip to try and stop from crying out, or just crying. There was another dazzling burst of pain and Danny's vision blurred. "Tuck, hold him down for a minute, then we're done." The words sounded like they were coming from so far away, and try as he might Danny couldn't be prepared for the final tug that made him scream.

By the time it died his breathing was ragged and his chest was heaving. He cradled his wrist to his chest, careful of the cast, and used his good hand to wipe at the tears that streaked his face. Tucker's arm was around his shoulder as Jazz dug in her bag and found a bottle with Danny's name on it. The Percocet that he still took on occasion when he was exceptionally stupid while fighting. Five weeks since the accident, and still he had problems.

"If you'd quit phasing the cast off while you're fighting, I wouldn't have to reset the bones all the time. Do you _want_ to lose the use of your left hand?" Jazz asked as she handed him two of the little pills, and a bottle of water to drink down with them.

"I'm sorry, I can't seem to help it. I'm not used to having to work with something permanently attached to me."

"You have to try and remember, Danny," Tucker added as he helped lift Danny to his feet, steadying his friend as he wobbled a little, the last dregs of dizziness clearing. "If it doesn't start to heal soon the doctors are going to have a field day trying to find out why."

"Yeah," Danny muttered. "I'll try harder."

Jazz sighed. "You're lucky I've been home the last few weeks. But I have to go back to Chicago in a few days. You have to be careful, okay?"

Danny shrugged and followed Tucker and Jazz through the snowy wonderland that was the park in the center of town. Christmas had been nearly two weeks before. The cheer of the season had escaped Danny. it wasn't the same without Sam, and she still refused to hear his name unless she could possibly help it. Hell. She'd even taken the gift Danny had sent with Tucker one day and tossed it out the window. He supposed he should be grateful that it hadn't been fragile.

A sweater. Fine knit and soft enough that Danny could almost imagine laying his against it while it was wrapped around Sam. Black, with the craziest thing knit into the center of the chest. It had taken him forever to track down someone who would do custom work, and when he'd requested a Danny Phantom symbol knit into it he'd felt like an idiot.

She hadn't seen it. She didn't care.

And he wasn't going to try and force her to listen to anyone, to let him explain. She'd said to leave her alone; he would. He was. He had been. And it was killing him.

"We're not trying to be hard on you, Danny. You know that, right?" Jazz asked as she dropped back to walk next to Danny.

Tucker followed suit, and chimed in with, "We just worry. And you haven't been yourself since…"

Since Sam had told him she hated him.

"I know," he said softly as the park fell behind them and the steps to Fenton Works showed, white and slick in the icy snow. "I know."

He did know. But he didn't think he could ever be the same again. Not when she hated him.

**Well, oh and I...**

Seven weeks and two days since she had looked at him. Seen him more than shadowed glimpses through windows, corner of the eye things as he flitted from one classroom to another and she refused to turn around to see him. Seven weeks and four days from the night he'd left her waiting at the café by herself.

And two weeks and one day since she had heard the rumor that he'd been in an accident. Nothing more than that, people grew silent when she was present now. But she'd heard that. And she would believe it, except that she hadn't seen anything wrong with him. He moved fine, hurrying around. And maybe she'd been a little too stubborn when she decided that seeing him would be too much.

Except she knew that it was. It hurt far too much for her to be able to see him every day and know that she would always be second best in his heart. Or lower. Usually much, much lower.

School had let out early for a Teacher's planning day that they turned into a half-day. It was after six and she was wandering the park trying to find something she could do that wouldn't involve going home. Home was unbearable right now. Between her mother's ecstatic showing off of the newest addition to the family, a rat with fur that passed itself off as a purebred dog, or her father crowing about his sighed Arnold Palmer driver that he'd picked up in West Palm Beach.

Even her grandmother was intolerable. The old woman had known that something bad happened, and that it involved Danny. And lately, as Sam got more miserable, her grandma had begun truly pressing for answers. And Sam couldn't take it. She just couldn't take it. She already felt like she was stretched tight enough to snap, and she was trying to avoid anything that might break her nerves in half.

And she was almost chasing the one thing that she knew would break her heart again. Danny had flown past her not more than ten minutes before, with Skulker in hot pursuit. He hadn't seen her, but she wasn't surprised. Despite being the only thing that wasn't covered in snow in the entire park, he'd been too preoccupied to notice her as she saw him thirty feet up in the air.

Not that she was trying to find him.

Her brain was almost completely numb when she heard the cursing from behind a clump of trees at the foot of one of the hills that was so popular for sledding. The snow crunched beneath her boots as she walked closer, her ears nearly burning at the creativity she was hearing. Things that just weren't right, and one that she hoped was anatomically impossible. Because if it wasn't, it was just… Eww.

And the closer she got the more familiar that low stream of anger became, until Sam was sure it was Danny as she stood behind a tree, almost afraid to look around it and see if she was right. His throat sounded raw, like he'd been doing a lot of yelling, or was just trying to catch a cold. Or maybe, she realized, it was because he'd been breathing the harshly frozen air during a prolonged battle with a ghost. It made more sense that way, because he certainly didn't sound like he was actually getting sick.

She leaned around the tree hesitantly, gloved hands tight on the bark of the tree as she tried to see what had him so frustrated. And when she could see she almost didn't realize what she was seeing as she watched him working along methodically. His wrist, his left wrist, in a slightly battered cast. Extremely battered if you paid attention to the dozen or so spikes sticking out of it, and he was trying his best to yank them out with little success.

There were three on the ground beside him, long slim dark shapes in the snow, and she could see that Danny's jeans were soaked through, and that he was shivering beneath his jacket. A scarf was forgotten around his neck, and he had a dark blue knit cap shoved back on his head as he tugged, twisted and viciously verbally assaulted another spike that he just couldn't get to move.

And then Sam lost her balance.

"Come on, you ruddy bitch, you," he muttered as her leg snapped out to catch her from falling. Her boot hit the ground, her body steadied, but a twig snapped underfoot, and his dark head swiveled to pin her with a startled blue gaze. "Sam," he said hesitantly, and her eyes were round violet puddles against her pale skin.

The cast, the scar that she could see easily against his cold pale skin. The way he looked like he wasn't sleeping, or even eating. The way that, as he sat, she could tell he was favoring his right knee by the way it was extended instead of curled up like his left leg. It was true. It was all true. He'd been in an accident, he'd been hurt. But when? It had to have been weeks and weeks ago, the wound on his face was too healed for it to be as recent as the cast suggested.

She took one step forward, two, and another before dropping to her knees and letting the cold seep through her jeans. "You're hurt."

He gave her a crooked smile. "Yeah. But you should see Skulker."

She almost laughed, but couldn't find the humor past the tears in her throat. "You should just phase them out of the cast," she offered, afraid to reach out and touch him and more than half desperate to do just that.

"I can't," he explained. "If I screw up I'll phase the cast off. Again."

"Again?" Sam glanced down at the cast and the spikes, then back up at the scar on his cheek. She tugged off her gloves and reached out, wondering if it was bad that Danny closed his eyes before she touched him, running a slender finger down the length of the winding cut from his ear across his cheek and almost, but not quite, to his mouth. "What happened? When?"

His eyes opened and Danny raised his right hand, cast free and warm to touch her hand, then to cradle it to his cheek. "We had a car accident. Me and Jazz. Semi plowed right into my door." He squeezed her hand as she inhaled sharply and her eyes darkened in worry. "It happened the night I was supposed to meet you."

"Oh," she whispered, tears slipping through her dark lashes to slide down her cheek, leaving icy trails that quickly chilled in the frigid air.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I'm so sorry."

"They tried to tell me," she said. Almost a question, but not quite. "Oh, I was so terrible to you, Danny."

Danny let go of her hand abruptly, letting it fall from his face and looking away. "I don't blame you, Sam. I understand why you did it. You were right."

"No, I wasn't," she breathed as she sank down into the snow, curling her legs in front of her as she gently took the wrist with the cast and laid it on her lap. She reached into her pocked and pulled out one of the more useful things she'd gotten for Christmas, a multi-tool that had pliers on it. Without a word she began picking the spikes out, grabbing their slender lengths and twisting and pulling at the same time, holding them much more tightly than Danny had been able to with only his hand.

He watched her work and didn't dare wonder what she was thinking, or if she was even thinking at all. And when she was finished her raised an eyebrow at the multitude of holes in the cast as Sam smirked a bit. "You might need a new cast, you know."

Danny shrugged. "I get a new one on Friday. Two more days and I'll be hole free."

"A new one?"

"It just finally started to heal," he said sheepishly.

"Ah. Phasing it off _again_."

"Yeah. Something like that." He pulled away from her gently and climbed to his feet, trying to ignore the way the cold ached into his right knee. Battle wounds were one thing, but it hadn't been a fight with that semi. Nope, that had been entirely too one sided, even if Danny was going to be feeling it for a long time to come. Like every time the weather got wet, or cold, or he tried to do stupid things like trampoline jumping.

Not that he'd tried that with his wrist in a cast. Really, because he would never…

"Thank you, Sam," he said softly. And then, "I'll see you at school maybe."

He made it three steps before her hand was wrapped around his right wrist and pulling back so that she could wrap her arms around him in a tight hug. "Please don't walk away, Danny. I'm sorry I said those things. I don't hate you, I miss you."

He buried his face in her hair and wrapped his arms around her, careful as he could be with the cast. "I missed you, too, Sam. I didn't mean to leave you hanging. I don't want to fight with you anymore. Or ever again."

"No more fighting," she agreed in a whisper as he held on to her. She breathed deeply, memorizing the cold snowy smell that came from him, and she wondered if it was because of the weather, or his ghost half. He was still shivering a little, and she pulled back to undo the zipper on his jacket and worm her way inside, listening to the rumble of a laugh in his chest as he wrapped the jacket around her and held her tightly.

He didn't stop altogether, but it was a vast improvement, and Sam pressed a kiss to the skin of his throat as she listened to his heartbeat, felt it beneath his skin. "Danny, what did you want to tell me that night?"

She felt him tense a little and held him tighter, and then shivered as his lips found her ear and brushed against them, sending tingles through her body. "That I love you." It sounded helpless, hopeless, and Sam buried her face against his chest and held on tightly as she tried to figure out whether she was going to cry or not.

Then she pulled back and met his eyes. His wonderful, beautiful blue eyes that looked so scared of her at the moment. She smiled at him. "I'd hoped that that's what you were going to tell me."

It was the only warning he had before she flung herself back into his arms, hers wrapped around his neck as she kissed him, hard and hot and furious. And when she tried to pull away thinking that it was too sudden, his arms held her tighter, and she could feel the clench of his right hand against her jacket, the press of the cast above it. And then _he_ kissed _her_. Slower, just as hot, but so much more fervent and driven.

She shivered beneath his mouth as he let her go, pressing a gentle kiss to the corner of her mouth, then the tip of her nose before settling his forehead against hers and sighing.

"I've been dying without you, Sam. Please don't ever leave me again."

"I won't, Danny," she whispered as she drew him back down for another kiss.

Later, much later, they found their way out of the park, a pocketful of cold metal spikes for Danny, and a warm arm around Sam's shoulders, pulling her tight against him. If anyone was surprised when Danny walked into his house with her, no one said anything. His parents went back about whatever invention they'd been working on, and Tucker didn't do anything more than shoot a surprised look at Danny and Sam as they slipped down on to the couch, never letting more than an inch come between them.

They stayed that way for a very long time.

**What's it feel like to be a ghost? (Louder now, louder now)  
So what's it feel like to be a ghost? (Ahh)  
Are you up for, are you up for this? (Well, are you up for, are you up for…)  
Are you up for, are you up for this? (Well, are you up for, are you up for…)**


	2. MakeDamnSure

_**MakeDamnSure**_** is by Taking Back Sunday from the album **_**Louder Now**_

**For Megan, my twisted little muse. **_**Scissor shaped across the bed**_** really is a hot line, isn't it? Now I suggest you read some of the stuff I write before I start making you the Mary Sue…**

---

Tucker has always believed that the only way that Sam and Danny will finally admit they care is by trapping them together for an extended period of time. And he manages to trap them, however unintentionally.

_Rated: M_

---

MakeDamnSure

**You've got this new head filled up with smoke  
I've got my veins all tangled close  
To the jukebox bars you frequent  
The safest place to hide**

"Explain to me again why we're taking your car?"

Danny laughed at Sam's annoyance. "Because your car is still in New York; you flew in to Amity, remember?"

She grumbled something that sounded fairly uncharitable, and Danny cocked an eyebrow at her as he moved around a slow moving truck on the interstate. "That, and I'd never fit into your little bucket on wheels."

"It's an environmentally safe hybrid," she said stiffly. "And your car is a gas guzzling hunk of metal."

Danny pressed on the accelerator again, moving towards the sunset and passing another car. "Your little whatsit wouldn't hold me. It's not designed for people taller than five foot seven." Sam only shrugged while glancing at Danny out of the corner of her eye. It was true, Danny would have had trouble folding nearly six and a half feet into her little car, much less for a road trip from Illinois to California.

"And," Danny said, shattering her thoughts. "This is a perfectly restored '67 Chevelle. It rocks."

Sam chuckled. It had been a point of much annoyance when, for Danny's sixteenth birthday all those years ago, his father had given him an old car that was falling apart and in need of more TLC than a single person was capable of. But it turned out that Jack Fenton was pretty handy under the hood, and apparently, so was Danny. They'd had the car up and running inside of a month, and Danny had spent his spare time until just after high school graduation restoring the Chevelle into nearly perfect condition, right down to some shiny rims Sam had given him as a graduation present.

But his parents had given him something that made it look so much cooler: a gift certificate to a local custom paint shop. And Danny had gone with total customization, from a glossy flat black base color, to the silver pinstripe down the sides and the center of the hood, both swarmed about with loops of thin color in neon blue and green.

Sam had wondered if it was on purpose, but when Danny had made her crawl beneath the rear bumper she'd nearly cracked her head shooting out and laughing. There, beneath the frame, where no one could see it, Danny had taken it upon himself to paint his Danny Phantom emblem. The colors of his car were definitely not coincidence.

"Okay," she admitted finally. "It rocks. And I know you tried to make it more environmentally friendly. Your dad told me," she explained when Danny shot her a curious glance before pasting his eyes back on the road.

They drove in silence for a long time, until the sun was well past the horizon and Danny yawned once, declining Sam's offer to drive. "There's an exit another few miles up. Hotel."

"Mm," she murmured in agreement. "Danny? Why are we road tripping instead of flying?"

He shrugged and she laughed. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. You said you wanted to catch up."

_And I,_ he thought very quietly, _just wanted to spend time with you._

"So let's catch up," she said. "Are you seeing anyone?"

He shook his head but didn't say anything.

"Are you passing your classes?

He nodded.

Sam narrowed her eyes at him. "It's hard to catch up when you refuse to say anything."

Danny laughed, wondering if it sounded as forced as it felt. "Okay. Long or short version?"

"What's the difference?" she asked cautiously.

"The long version includes dorm parties where I lock my door so people don't decorate my room in vomit."

She made a gagging sound. "Short version, please."

"Not dating anyone, too busy with classes and I'm just not interested in any of the girls at school. Passing, have a three-two, so hey, I'm doing better than in high school." He paused and saw the exit cut through the bright swathe of headlights like a river of dark pavement. The Chevelle slowed and Danny veered to the right, pulling off into a tiny little interstate town with a single hotel that looked like it had seen better days.

"And the ghosts?" Sam asked as she looked the hotel they were going to stay at over. She wanted to take the question back and ask why they hadn't stopped at Springfield, but she didn't.

"They mostly leave me alone now," was the short reply she got.

"They would," she murmured as she Chevelle came to a stop in front of the office. She was silent as Danny got out and went inside, and Sam watched him as he moved. So sure of himself, with a confidence that he'd never had in high school. Twenty-one, nearly twenty-two, and a veteran of so many battles. And the one that made the ghosts afraid to go anywhere near him, or do anything that might bring his unwanted attentions.

He'd been nineteen, and home for the summer, wanting to spend it in his own home and his own bed than in the tiny dorms of UI-Amity Park, where he was now a senior by credit count. Sam's vigorous pushing had made him take AP classes in his junior and senior years giving him enough credits to enroll as a sophomore after graduation. Vlad had made an attempt at Danny and Maddie. She closed her eyes as she pictured Danny's horrified face when Vlad Plasmius had walked through his front door and taken his mother.

The battle that had followed hadn't been pretty. Not for Plasmius, and not for Danny's family. He'd been able to keep his secret, or at least they thought. His parents didn't treat him differently after that, not exactly, but they certainly watched him more carefully. Like they were afraid he might do the same thing he'd done to Plasmius.

He'd used his Ghostly Wail.

He'd used it and it had shredded the other hybrid to nothing. And if anyone thought it was odd that Vladimir Masters went missing the very next day, no one had said anything about it. There were still years to go before he was declared legally dead, and he was according to Clockwork, something that had plagued Danny for a long time until Sam and Tucker had forced it down his throat that it had been necessary, and Vlad brought it on himself.

But the real kicker of it was that, once Vlad was finally declared dead, his will would be executed and his estate divided among his two inheritors. Danny, and his mother. Vlad's last ditch effort to get Maddie's love, to control Danny's life through guilt.

Danny already had plans to raze the castle in Wisconsin and the cabin in Colorado to the ground. He had plans to sell the land, and then he had plans to take what Sam knew to be a staggering amount of money, and start using it to further ghost research, and hopefully getting the humans to admit that not all ghosts were evil. Maybe eventually he'd be able to prove that Danny Phantom was one of the good guys.

At least he could live comfortably while he was doing it.

A knock at the window startled her, and she saw Danny smirking as she opened the door and got out. "They have two rooms left, I got them both, alright?"

She nodded and climbed back in, and by the time they had parked and Danny had carried her bag for her (and she wished she had the nerve to ask for a ride herself) she was already feeling half asleep. With a hug for her best friend, and a kiss that she pressed against his cheek without thinking, she closed the door quietly and found herself falling into sleep much faster than she would have thought.

---

For his part, Danny was able to push aside the way his mind wanted to sleep. Sam was still jetlagged, and he knew she was sound asleep. He'd poked his head through the wall and into her room to check before flying up through the roof to float peacefully above the tiny town. He could see it, and the flash of headlights as they cut through the darkness on the interstate. Cars on their way to somewhere, just like he and Sam were.

It was spring break, and they were road tripping, of all things, to California and CalTech. And Tucker, who'd asked if they could come out for some sort of awards ceremony. Tucker had outpaced the both of them at his own university. But Danny had figured that would happen when he was doing nothing but working with the technology Tucker so loved.

He'd earned his Bachelor's before Christmas, and he'd enrolled in some courses to work on a Master's in some strangely named field of research. All Danny knew was that it had to do with nanobots and applied applications to them concerning computers and quantum physics. And he was lucky he knew that much. But the research team he was working with had made some breakthrough, and Tucker had had a hand in it, and he was being recognized for his hard work.

And so his best friends were going to celebrate for and with him.

Danny sighed as he drifted a little higher, feeling the chilly sensation as a cloud misted over and around him. It was a lot easier to fly up here than to be trapped in a car with Sam for hours on end. Answering her questions. He needed to avoid the questions that involved him dating other women. It didn't happen. He'd dated Valerie for what, a day in freshman year of high school? And that enforced thing when Kitty overshadowed Paulina.

There'd been a single date with a random girl in senior year, and he'd gone out on two dates in the last three and a half years. Which was sad because most of the guys in his dorm could pull two dates in a weekend, with two different girls, and sometimes two dates in the same night. But Danny just wasn't interested in dating.

Because every time he did, he found himself comparing the girl to Sam. And no one could ever measure up to her. She was beautiful, funny, smart. Her sarcasm was something he treasured, and the way she changed for no one but herself. It was why he loved her so damned much.

It was why, he admitted as he phased back into his hotel room and changed back to human to drop onto the bed, this little road trip was killing him. Being so close to her, and not being able to do anything about it. It was as close to hell as Danny ever wanted to come. It would only be worse when she finally did find someone, and he had to watch it knowing he had no right to say a word.

**A long night spent with your most obvious weakness  
You start shaking at the thought**

**You are everything I want  
'Cause you are everything I'm not**

"This is your fault, Danny," Sam muttered as he babied the car off of I-40 at a measly thirty miles an hour.

He ignored her as he coasted down the ramp and then veered onto the street and into the exit's excuse for a town. There were a handful of stores, and in the distance he could see a cluster of houses. And a block away was a mechanic's shop that Danny's precious Chevelle desperately needed. He coasted as much as he could before daring to press the gas again and coaxing the car into the parking lot before putting it in park and lifting the e-brake.

"This is so your fault," Sam muttered again.

"It's not my fault, I take care of my car." Without another word Danny climbed out and went inside the shop as Sam followed suit, but chose to lean against the trunk and wait for Danny to come back out. Come out he did, with a short greasy looking man in tow. She rolled her eyes as the hood was popped and propped open, and Danny proceeded to get his hands greasy with the mechanic.

Eventually, though, he turned his attention to her and waggled a beckoning finger at her. "I told you it wasn't my fault," he said smugly as the mechanic straighten and wiped his hands on a rag that was dangling from his coverall.

"Eyeah, 's the water pump. Shoulda been recalled, 'as a manufacturer's defect. Nuttin' ya could do about it," and Sam grimaced.

"How long to fix it?"

"Oh, a day or two to order the part, get it in. Classic's is tricky, you gotta have to be particular wit' the parts." The little man snorted once. "'Nother day to get it in. So, two, mebbe three days, and yer on yer way."

"There's a motel up the road," Danny said quietly as he detached his car key from his keychain and handed it over to the mechanic. "We're going to grab a room at the motel. If it gets fixed any faster, give us a call?"

A nod of his head and the little man was gone back into the shop, and Danny was pulling the trunk release and gathering the two suitcases he and Sam had brought. He shouldered them easily as Sam fell into step beside Danny as they began trudging their way along the dusty road to the motel.

"So we're stuck in this little nowhere town in Oklahoma," Sam finally said.

Danny shrugged. "We'll call Tucker and tell him. He'll understand. Besides," he added with a pointed glance. "Tucker always liked my car."

"I like your car, too, Danny. Really, I do." A smile lit her face. "Oh look, they have an old fashioned drive-in."

Danny chuckled. "Maybe we'll see what they're playing later, huh?"

"I'll meet you at the motel, okay?" Sam said, her eyes dancing. "I want to see what they're playing."

She was gone in a flash, and Danny rolled his eyes as he kept on.

---

She was fairly breathless when she finally showed up, and Danny was sitting outside the motel wondering if Sam was going to kill him or not. Because it was his car, and that made it his fault, manufacturer's defect or not. "They're playing tons of classics," she laughed out. "We have to go see some."

He gave her a wan smile. "I got us a room," Danny said without preamble, and the smile turned a little sickly. "Sam, you're not going to like this. They only had one room to rent out."

Her smile flickered for a moment but she shrugged. "So we share a room. No biggie, we shared a tub when we were three."

They both flushed at that memory, and Danny cleared his throat. "It, uh, only has one bed." And when she flushed brilliant red Danny felt heat rushing across his own cheeks. "I can take the floor."

Sam shook her head. "No. No, you don't have to do that. We're both adults, we can share a bed."

It was a decent enough motel for a small town, the room itself wasn't decked out in bad seventies colors like most small places were. It looked like it had been decorated by the older woman who had rented him the room in the first place, and Danny sighed as he dropped the two suitcases at the foot of the bed. The bed. The large, king sized bed.

It had a pale green bedspread that looked like it was laundered regularly, and when Sam whipped it down he saw creamy sheets and pillow cases. Four pillows, there would be no fight for them. The walls were painted, not papered, and the ivory color was shades darker than the sheets. No painted trim, either. Medium colored baseboards that accented the headboard.

There was a dresser, low to the ground with a television on it, though Danny didn't care if it got cable or not. He'd never been very into television, preferring video games, and he'd actually learned the pleasure of reading from Sam during high school. He had several books with him that he was dying to get in to, if only to distract himself from the slim girl who was rifling through her suitcase like nothing was wrong.

There was good length of counter next to the sink, and Danny was relieved to see half a dozen large, fluffy towels folded neatly. There were several smaller ones, and even some hand towels and wash clothes. Lined up neatly next to this were small bottles of various liquids that Danny assumed to be the usual suspects: shampoo, conditioner, lotion. It was the kind of thing Tucker always snagged and took home with him. Not that he ever used them outside of the motel room, but it was something he did.

"I'm, uh, going to grab a shower, okay?" Danny mumbled as he tugged out a fresh pair of jeans, clean boxers and socks. He caught the faint nod of Sam's head as she opened the drawer of the nightstand and pulled the channel guide out, and then Danny was closing the bathroom door behind him and leaning against it.

"This," he said quietly to himself. "Has bad idea written all over it."

He managed to keep his thoughts to himself during the short but pleasantly hot shower, and his only complaint was that the shower head was set for normal sized people and, at six foot four and a half, Danny had to duck his head to wash his hair. Surprisingly the stocked shampoo was pleasant to smell. It wasn't overtly feminine, which was a usual gripe among males while traveling. But it wasn't plain enough to be brushed off. More like a faint sweet musk that was tinged with a hint of something floral.

He liked it. And he made the mental note to cajole the manufacturer out of the landlord before they drove on.

He hit his head on the doorknob while bent over to towel his hair off, but other than that he was fine, squeaky clean when he stepped out of the bathroom, a billow of wet steam following him as he draped his towel over a chair that was positioned in the corner. In fact, he was fine all the way up until he turned to the bed to see Sam sliding off of it and gathering up a change of clothes for herself.

She'd taken her stockings off, and Danny had seen her legs before. Back when they were kids and he was a lovesick ball of hormones and she hadn't been… She hadn't been as developed as she was now. Sam had blossomed late, he knew it. Everyone knew it, because sometime between sixteen and seventeen, Sam had stopped going to the beach, the water park with them. The angles that she'd had had become curves, and Danny had missed seeing them because she'd been too self conscious.

But he could see them now. The way her plain black skirt skimmed over creamy thighs, the strip of pale skin that showed between her shirt and the skirt. And the long length of leg that made him wonder what it would feel like to have them wrapped around him as he moved above her, made him wonder what it would be like to have her whimpering his name as he loved her.

Made him wonder if he was insane for thinking those kinds of things about Sam.

And then she disappeared into the bathroom and Danny could only wonder how, exactly, bad idea had gone to worse. Possibly worst.

---

It had startled her when Danny had come out of the bathroom, half dressed and still wet. His hair had been dripping little drops of water onto his shoulders, and Sam had nearly swallowed her tongue as she watched the water slide down his body. Ghost fighting certainly hadn't hurt him. He had a few scars, but mostly had walked away from the majority of his fights unscathed. She'd always said he had an exceptionally hard head. She loved being proved right.

But knowing something was different from seeing it. Sure, Danny had definitely shown promise the last time she'd seen him half dressed. Right before the summer of blossoming, as her mother liked to call it in her more insane moments. That was when Sam had quit going places where she would have to wear bathing suits knowing, as she did, that shoving the fact that she was a girl, and an attractive one at that, down Danny and Tucker's throats would have changed the dynamic of the whole friendship.

She figured she could sacrifice playing in the water for that. It was worth it.

But he hadn't had the physique that she saw now. Chiseled arms that were usually covered with loose sleeves. She could see the muscles of his forearms rippling as he tossed the towel across the chair, the tensing of his bicep as he ran a hand through his still wet hair before turning to her. The way the drops of water played off his chest, the smooth expanse of skin that she so desperately wanted to taste.

Defined abdomen, and his back. Oh, his back. It was her favorite part of the body, and especially his. The broad definition of his shoulders, the smooth slope from neck down. The lines of muscle that ran down and moved fluidly as he did, right down to the narrow waist and his pale blue boxers, darker blue jeans, that hung loosely enough that she hoped they would fall off.

Yes, she loved his back next, right after his eyes. He looked so surprised when he saw her. Sam flushed and ducked her head as she finished gathering her things and brushed past him into the bathroom, wondering what she'd been thinking when she'd said they could share the bed. On one hand it was such a great idea. It might make something happen. But on the other…

She was still tense and dancing around the worry when she came out of the bathroom. She'd managed to find the one thing that wouldn't embarrass either of them, a pair of old pajama pants that she'd swiped from her father, and a tank top that read 'Good Girl' with horns poking out on either side. Truth be told, Sam preferred sleeping in silk at the very least, though clothes were completely optional. She had that luxury; she had her own apartment even while at school. No roommates to worry about.

There was food waiting for her, and Danny, no longer shirtless, giving her a faint smile. "I got us some food. Pizza place. Veggie."

She smiled and laughed when her stomach growled. "That actually sounds great. But we need to call Tuck."

"Already did it," Danny said as he passed her a paper plate and a handful of napkins, then flipped the television on. "There's a cheesy horror flick on. Interested?"

Later, after the pizza was gone and Sam was huddled into pillows as she was torn between fear and laughter at the terrible movie, she wondered why she'd worried. It was Danny, after all. If he hadn't bought a clue in all these years, he wasn't going to.

**And we lay, we lay together just not  
Too close, too close (How close is close enough?)  
We lay, we lay together just not  
Too close, too close**

Usually he hated to wake up. A morning person Danny had never pretended to be, or even attempted to try. No, he was firmly of the opinion that mornings were for slamming the snooze button, or sleeping for as long as possible because the alarm was never set. He liked those kinds of mornings. Waking up somewhere towards noon and finding the nearest IHOP to satisfy his breakfast cravings.

The only time that IHOP was better was at two in the morning. And those times were usually after late night ghost fighting when one of those endless pots of coffee was required while patching each other up in a booth hidden from the front doors. Or for teasing Tucker mercilessly after he'd dropped the thermos. Again.

But this morning was turning out a little different than he'd expected. Awake on his own and the glowing red light of the clock told him it wasn't quite eight, and warm. Very warm, and snuggled close to a slim body that shouldn't have been there. He wondered, in the hazy moments before his brain caught up with him, if he'd actually brought a girl home with him. And then wondered at the familiar shape to her.

And then his brain was wide awake as he remembered the night before and realized that it was _Sam_ he was curled up with, against, and that if she woke up before he managed to get a safe distance away she'd have the surprise of her life poking her in the back.

She was lying on her side, one arm slung out across the bed to dangle off the edge, and he was pressed against her back without so much as a breath between them. One of his legs had worked between hers so that, as he held her with arm, one of her legs was looped over it. He could feel the soft skin of her stomach beneath his hand, where her tank top had ridden up, and the gentle rise of her chest let him know she was still completely asleep.

A blessing, that.

Working his way back from her was easier said that done. She nearly woke up when he managed to slip his leg from between hers, and her eyes had nearly opened when he squirmed to the edge of the bed, leaving her back cold for a moment until Danny snugged the blanket down along it. He watched her for a moment longer before realizing that, once she was awake, he was going to have a serious problem explaining to her why he couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

Without a second though, Danny grabbed the jeans he had shucked off the night before, and his shirt, and beat a hasty retreat to the shower, and some very icy water.

It was too bad that the cold shower was completely worthless. The way her lavender eyes followed him when he stepped back into the room was enough to undo twenty minutes of freezing work.

---

"There really is nothing to do here," Sam muttered as she sat down on a bench that was in front of the local farmer's market. Family owned and run, and charming on top of all that. But she was bored out of her mind. The drive-in was showing promise, there was supposed to be a Bogart trilogy playing that night, and she was sure she remembered Casablanca being billed.

But she was bored.

The bench creaked as Danny sat down next to her and wrapped a companionable arm around her. "I told you I could fly us to a bigger town," he reminded her, his tone not far from begging.

She snorted. "You don't need to advertise, Danny. If anyone here was at all smart, they'd figure out that you're Danny Phantom."

"That's a big if," he drawled.

Sam wanted so badly to disagree with him, but somehow she couldn't. It was a nice town, if too small, and the residents were good people. Hard working. Loyal. The whole spiel designed to politely tell someone they're not the brightest crayon in the box. But it was true. They were awfully damned simple, and Sam wondered if anyone had stayed in school past eighth or ninth grade.

She didn't say anything, of course, and never would. But she missed the urban life. Of course, Amity Park could be called urban compared to this little town.

"Why don't we see about finding something to eat? I heard that the diner makes eggplant parmesan," Danny offered. "And if we waste enough time there, we can go straight to those movies you want to see so badly."

Sam shrugged. "And how do you plan on wasting time?"

"You could tell me about your life in New York. The fast lane and all that," he said with a mischievous twinkle to his eyes.

She arched an eyebrow. "Because studying and going to school is the fast lane."

He shrugged and turned from her, and when he spoke again she couldn't see his face. "You could always tell me how things are going with your perfect boyfriend."

Sam frowned. "He wasn't perfect. He was an ass."

Danny turned back to her, surprised. "You guys were serious, I thought."

Sam shook her head and pulled herself to her feet. "He wanted to be serious. I didn't. So he got serious with someone else."

"Oh, Sam." Strong arms wrapped around her from behind, and Sam sighed as she relaxed into them.

"Don't worry about it, Danny," she murmured. "He wasn't worth it, and I didn't really care about him."

"You dated him for eight months," Danny reminded her as he tucked her under his arm and started them walking towards the little diner he'd found. "That sounds serious."

She laughed merrily as they darted across the street, hurrying despite the lack of traffic. "I saw him maybe twice a month. Besides," she tossed out flippantly when Danny held the door open for her. "It's hard to get serious about one guy when you're in love with someone else."

Danny stopped dead in his tracks, and Sam turned back at him with a quick smile. "Coming?" she asked, and Danny nodded.

She was in love with someone. And god, how he wished it was him.

**I just wanna break you down so badly  
Well I trip over everything you say  
I just wanna break you down so badly  
In the worst way**

They'd stayed up till the wee hours the night before, the Bogart marathon hadn't cut off until nearly one in the morning, and they'd been fairly well out on their feet when they'd finally stumbled their way back to the rented room. She'd told Danny to grab his shower first, and when she'd finished with hers he'd been sound asleep in the bed, though she knew he must have tried to stay awake. There was a book lying open on his chest.

She'd dog-eared the page and sat it on the nightstand before sliding in next to him. Funny, how he seemed so close, but was still so far out of reach.

Of course, out of reach was debatable considering the position Sam found herself in when she woke the next morning. She didn't like being up early, and nearly ten was still too early for her thin nocturnal blood. But to wake up and find herself wrapped around Danny… it was something she was enjoying far too much.

He was sprawled down the center of the bed on his back, and she nearly ruined it all by laughing him awake as she wondered whether it was her hormones that had sent her snuggling into him, or self defense from the lack of bed space. For a single person, he sure took up a lot of space. But she didn't mind. Not when her head was resting on his chest, his heart was beating steadily beneath her ear. She was tucked firmly against him, and she could feel his breath on her hair from where his chin was tucked at the top of her head. One hand was tangled in her hair, and the contented feeling that washed over her made her want to close her eyes and just go back to sleep.

His other hand was beneath her shirt, hot on her bare skin and so close to indecency that it wasn't funny. And her leg was tossed across his waist as she capitalized on such a wonderfully warm, living body pillow. She needed to move, needed to get up. Needed to get a cold shower or find some other way of relieving the sexual tension that suddenly had her nerves strung taut.

So she eased back, trying to untangle herself from his body without waking him. God only knows what he'd say, what he'd do, if he realized that he'd had her all over him. Worse if he ever figured out that she really, _desperately_ wanted to be all over him. And what would his reaction be if she ever told him she'd been in love with him since high school? Better to sneak away and not wreck the friendship. Better to be safe, because she didn't want to lose him.

But wow, what an eye opener when, as she carefully, quietly slid her leg down his body so that she wasn't draped across him anymore, she realized that Danny was quite aware of a feminine body pressed against him. Awake or not, Danny's body at least appreciated her. The laugh that threatened to spill froze in her throat when she even breathing paused for a moment, and he started to roll. Closer to her.

Sam nearly squeaked as one strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer, and she knew she must have made an entertaining picture as her jaw dropped when Danny snuggled his head against her, murmuring something that she couldn't quite hear, but sounded so much like her name that she couldn't think. And then again.

"Don't go, Sam."

Murmured and definitely more asleep than awake, and Sam couldn't stop herself from darting away from him and heading straight for the bathroom.

---

She was acting odd when she finally woke him up, and Danny yawned as he glanced at the clock. He groaned. It was after eleven and he'd missed the phone call to Tucker. He'd promised they'd check in daily so he'd know whether or not they'd be finding an alternative form of transportation. Not the Danny planned on leaving his beloved Chevelle behind, but neither of them wanted to miss Tucker's moment of triumph.

"I called Tucker," she said as she pulled the blanket back from over his shoulders and tugged at his arm. "Come on, let's go."

Danny sat up, more than a little wary at the way she was acting and the tenseness along her body. "What's the big rush?" Then his face brightened. "Is it fixed?"

Sam rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No, it's not fixed. I've been up long enough to have been there and back. Tomorrow. He said that it would be ready tomorrow morning, and then we can leave this hole in the wall town and get back to somewhere with actual life."

Danny arched a brow. "You're too tense, Sammy."

She scowled and hit him in the shoulder. "Don't call me that. I just want to get out of here. I want to be able to do something other than be trapped. And I really, really, _really_ want—"

She stopped and Danny looked at her inquiringly, but Sam shook her head. "Just get up, alright? I'm hungry and my mood tends to go downhill when I skip a meal. "

He didn't say anything for a long moment as Sam turned away and stood, pacing to the far side of the small motel room. He only made sure that when she finally was in the mood to turn back, that he wasn't there and that the shower was already running.

**My inarticulate store bought hangover hobby kit  
It talks, it says, "You, oh, you are so cool"  
Scissor shaped across the bed**

**You are red, violent red**

"They're playing _Breakfast at Tiffany's_ tonight," Sam said as she twined a long thin stand of spaghetti around her fork as she looked up at Danny from beneath her lashes. She chuckled when he sent her a look that clearly said, _I have no idea what you're talking about_.

"Audrey Hepburn? It's a classic," and she smiled at his faint frown.

"And classic means that it wasn't made in the last decade," he replied as he poked at his own food, a mostly eaten steak that was a little too far on the done side. "Sam, I'm all about classics, but don't they have anything new?"

"They don't have anything more recent than the sixties, Danny. I checked. Do you want to go or not?"

And when he didn't answer immediately she sighed. "Don't worry about it. I'll go by myself. I dragged you to that marathon last night."

"No."

Danny's voice was a little louder than she expected it, and Sam's eyes flew up to the intense blue of his. "No, Sam," he said, this time a little more gently. "I don't want you to go by yourself. I want to go with you."

The words behind it spoke volumes to him, and he could only wish that she knew what he was thinking. He loved spending time with her, and classic movies weren't so bad. Especially not when it meant he spent hours contently with Sam only inches away, sometimes even managing to wrap an arm around because she looked cold. But sometimes a guy really wanted some blood and guts.

It was the best way to have Sam snuggled into his side for an entire movie, instead of having to wait for the chilled hours of the late night to drive her there.

He smiled at her perplexed expression as he laid his fork down. "I always want to spend time with you," he said quietly before picking up his soda and drinking to hide the sudden way his face wanted to redden, then was forced to sit the glass down and tug his hand back to be laid in his lap as he realized that the unexpected admission had made it, had made both of his hands, shake enough to be seen. The nerves of finally trying to tell your best friend that you were in love with her.

And therein lay the reason why Danny had suggested a road trip. Not that he'd thought for even a moment that they'd break down in the middle of nowhere. But really, it wasn't so bad since he was stuck with her. And that was exactly how he wanted it.

For a moment as he looked across the table at Sam, Danny wondered if he should regret that he'd said it the way he had, or even said it at all. But the faint blush that spread across her cheeks as she looked back at him, her mouth open in surprise but curving ever so slightly into a smile… That made Danny wonder why he'd waited so long to try and say anything. Because she looked so beautiful like that, so shy and pretty, that it made his heart ache.

"I'm glad you do," she finally said as she laid her fork down and pushed her plate back.

Danny nodded towards the door with his head. "You want to get out of here and find a good patch of grass?"

The laughter in her eyes had him flagging down their waitress and paying her quickly, before Sam could even begin to want to pull out her own purse and try and pay for any or all of it. Then Danny had her by the hand and was headed down the single main street of the town toward the drive-in and pulling her closer against him, all the while holding on to her hand.

---

"I still don't get how they walked out where the masks without getting caught. _Someone_ had to have seen them," Danny said as he settled back against the tree that they'd chosen to tuck themselves beneath for the movie. "I mean, come on. _No_ one would get away with that now."

Sam chuckled against his shoulder. "Don't break your brain. It's just a movie."

"Yeah, but come on," he muttered with pretend annoyance as he tried to find a way to wrap his arms around her without freaking her out. Well, too much. He was more than a little sure that even the slightest change in their relationship might make her wary. Hell, it made him wary, and he was the one trying to find a way to do it.

"I've always liked this movie," she said softly. "The romance, the almost surreal way it plays out."

"The happy ending," Danny added as he looked down at her for a moment.

"Yeah. The happy ending. They don't happen so much in real life, you know?"

Danny sighed. There wasn't much he could say when the subject of her parents' divorce came up. Even Sam herself had admitted that her parents were far happier apart than together. The syrupy happiness they'd forced on everyone (except for Danny, whom they both despised) until Sam's senior year and a month before graduation had turned into absolutely nothing between them. Danny still had a hard time believing that the Manson's had managed to drag everyone into the farce, had managed to make everyone think that they were alright.

Even Sam hadn't known until the very end and the night that the quietly done divorce had been finalized and her father had sat her down to explain it to her. With his bags packed and stacked by the door.

It was poorly done, both Danny and Tucker had agreed on that. It had been the two of them that Sam had turned to and she hadn't stepped foot back into her house for weeks after that. Not when she could bunk at one house or the other. But the mess had made a lasting impression on Sam. There's been a long time, almost a year, where she'd absolutely refused have anything to do with the opposite sex except for Danny and Tucker.

It had been a worry and a relief all in one.

"There _are_ happy endings, Sam," he said quietly, falling back on his one tried and true piece of proof. "My mom and dad are still together and going strong."

"It could be a show," she muttered darkly.

Danny choked back a laugh as he closed his eyes and shook his head. "Did I ever tell you exactly why I moved out?"

"To hide your ghostly identity?" she said making it a question as she tilted her face to look up at him. "Okay, no you didn't."

"Let's just say that I wanted some peace and quiet," he said quietly as he closed his eyes. "Mom is, um, vocal."

There was silence for a moment and then, "Oh my god. Didn't need to know that."

Danny only chuckled. "Actually, Sammy, I think you did. Happy endings do happen. You just have to fight for them."

She didn't say anything, only gave a half hearted shrug that Danny felt as he slipped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her a little closer to him. The warmth that had surrounded him for most of the evening was fading as he watched Sam. It bothered Danny so much that something that had happened years ago would still hurt her so much. Or maybe it was because she was in love with someone, something that made Danny decidedly unhappy. It wouldn't be him.

But she would dwell on it, the belief that happy endings didn't exist, the fact that she was in love with someone. The thoughts of it never working… That would explain why she spent so much time with someone she didn't really want to be with.

Danny sighed and Sam shifted closer, laying her head against his shoulder and, much to Danny's surprise, snuggling in. "Cold?" he asked.

"A little," she admitted.

Danny smiled and leaned away from her, shrugging his jacket off to wrap around her. And the surprise came again as she willingly let him and then pressed herself against his side again. What made it even better was, when he slipped his arm back around her shoulders, she slid her arm across his stomach to hold on to him, letting the jacket drape them both. And he couldn't help it. He let his free hand drop to hers, fingers brushing the soft skin of her hand and caressing it absently.

But what surprised Danny the most, was that Sam didn't stop him. Didn't even try to. If anything, she snuggled a little closer, a movement that made a smile paste itself across Danny's face. He wondered if she knew, but at that moment, he didn't really care.

"Hey, Sam?"

"Hm?" It was a soft, comfortable sound. A sound that he wanted to hear more, just like she was.

He smiled and barely turned his head so that, if he wanted, he could press a kiss to her hair if he wanted. And he wanted. But he didn't.

"You want to get out of here?" She shifted in his arm to peer up at him. "Movie's almost over. We could get ice cream or something."

She smiled, and Danny was gratified by the genuine warmth of it. "Yeah. I think I'd like that."

**You hollow out my hungry eyes  
You hollow out my hungry eyes**

"You know, I would have agreed that it was too cold for ice cream, but the way you steam up the bathroom…" Sam chuckled as she nibbled at the edge of the ice cream cone Danny had just flown in for her.

He smirked. "You're lucky I let you have the first shower. If I hadn't, you'd have been a very, very cold Sam."

She shrugged and Danny's eyes dilated as he watched her swipe her tongue across the vanilla mass she'd picked. He'd gone with chocolate. Good, old fashioned, tried and true chocolate. And he'd swear that the pink of her tongue was only that much more because of the creamy white ice cream. It made him think of things that he shouldn't have thought. Like how sweet she must taste with the sweet vanilla flavor still in her mouth. How much better she probably tasted without it, with just her.

Like how her tongue would look as it swiped across his skin, and Danny blinked the thought away as Sam looked at him curiously before he shifted off the bed, hurriedly and fluidly, the motion making the mattress heave. Without any warning Sam herself was bounced, and the cone in her hand. The softly melting ice cream toppled from its safe haven in the cone and dropped down onto her lap, splattering her night shirt and making little dots of vanilla across the bedspread.

Sam cursed as she tried to salvage what was left, but the ice cream refused to hold together as she tried scooping it up, and Danny grabbed a shirt from the top of the nearest bag to help her scoop it up, sighing as he deposited it in the sink, turning back to her with a towel in hand.

"Sam, I'm sorry," he said as she pulled at her shirt, grimacing at the stickiness.

Then her eyes lit on the shirt by the sink and she glared at him. "That was my last clean t-shirt, Danny. What am I supposed to wear now?" She paused and then yanked the towel out of his hands to sop at the ice cream and smear it off of hers before holding a semi-clean hand out in demand. "Give me one of yours. Now."

Danny arched an eyebrow and glanced down at his nearly shirtless state. The tank top had seen better days, and he bit his lip so that he wouldn't laugh. "Um, Sam. This is my last clean shirt."

She glared even more fiercely. "Then what am I sleeping in?"

"Don't you have anything else?" Danny asked as Sam threw the towel at him, missing so that it smacked into the mirrored wall behind him.

Without a look back she stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door, making Danny wince as he looked at it. Then it cracked open and the sticky shirt was wrapped around his head as she hit what she aimed at this time. A second later and the sweatpants she'd had on followed, and Danny barely had a moment to try and stick a hand up before they too were around his face.

"I want a pair of your pajama pants. And I want the nightgown from my bag," she said severely. "And don't you dare say a word about it, either, Danny Fenton."

It was cryptic right until he had her bag opened up and found the object of his search. The pajama pants had been easy, right on top of his bag, he'd been planning to switch into them from jeans. He figured he could rough it for a night and sleep in those, even if the denim was still a little too new to be comfortable and soft. He'd ruined her clothes, it was the least he could do.

But the thing that she called a nightgown was pushing the limits. Silky and soft and a deeply matte black… He wondered if, when she had bought it, it had been termed a nightgown. Because to Danny, the silk and lace gown looked more like something that was worn only to be taken off.

Wisely Danny stayed silent as he rapped on the closed door. It opened a crack and her hand poked through, fingers outstretched and expectant. He dropped the clothes in her hand and then backed off as the door closed again with a thud. Danny sighed as he quickly mopped up the rest of the mess and set her shirt and pants to soak in some water. She'd be mad no matter what, but maybe if he tried to clean them a little too, she wouldn't be _as_ mad.

He'd only just managed to strip the sticky bedspread and bundle it up in his hands when the bathroom door opened again and Sam stepped out. For a moment Danny couldn't breathe, she looked so beautiful. Not that he didn't always think she was beautiful, but she never… well, she never dressed like this for him. The green pajama pants were easily ignored as his imagination provided him with a remembered length of pale leg, and the silky black materiel skimmed along her body smoothly, hugging itself to the curves and sliding against the flat span of her stomach.

Thin lacy straps found their way down her shoulder, plunging down to a scoop that let him imagine would it would be like if it were just a little bit lower, and Danny was suddenly very glad for the wadded material he held in front of him. He was speechless, dumbstruck.

"It looks stupid, I know," she said as she plucked at the hem of the nightgown self-consciously. "I didn't really plan on anyone seeing me in it," she mumbled.

She looked up at him and then dropped her eyes just as quickly before she reached out and hit the switch to plunge the room into darkness. "I'm tired," was all she said, and moments later Danny heard her crawling across the bed and sliding beneath the still clean sheet he'd left on it.

The blanket was dropped, forgotten as Danny felt his way to the bed and sat down. "You don't look stupid," he said into the silence. She snorted and he reached a hand out, feeling a blush burn its way across his face as he found the smooth skin of her shoulder, fingers perched just so, so that all he had to do to slide the strap down would be to pull. Slide the strap down and press his mouth to the soft skin there, kiss it, find his way up her throat so that he could—

"No, really," he said as he killed that line of thought ruthlessly. "You look nice. Really nice."

She didn't say anything.

"Sam."

"Don't try and humor me, Danny." This time when her voice came it was tired, and Danny pulled his hand back as he tugged his shirt off and stretched out next to her.

"You're beautiful, Sam." This time the silence was abrupt, and Danny knew that Sam wasn't going to say anything, knew that he'd probably gone too far by saying that. She wasn't ready to think of him in any way but as a friend, and he'd probably freaked her out. Seriously freaked her out.

"You don't have to sleep in your jeans." Her voice startled him, he was so sure she'd gone to sleep as he lay awake in the dark.

"I don't have anymore pj's," he said, trying to make it into something teasing and failing miserably.

"So? Those can't be comfortable."

She had a point and Danny waited a moment to see if she would say anything else before shimmying the jeans off and tossing them in the direction of his bag, hoping that it hit it, or just came close. She shifted a moment after him and he heard the rustle of silk as she did, and immediately rolled to his side away from her, trying desperately to control his hormones. It was one thing to sleep next to her when they were both practically dressed. Another thing entirely to lay there in nothing but his boxers and to _know_ that she was lying next to him wearing something out of a fantasy.

He sighed again and rolled back to his back as he tried to concentrate on anything but her. They were leaving in the morning. They'd have to make up time, so they'd have to avoid anything that would be a congested area. No skimming through Vegas to see the strip lit up at night like they'd planned. He'd take that side trip on the way back. They could easily cut through New Mexico and then across Arizona and then it was a straight shot—

"Are you asleep?" The warm hand on his side and the soft voice from next to him startled him from his mental mapping, and Danny nearly jumped.

He chuckled a little once his heart found its place in his chest again and replied, "No." Another chuckle and he asked, "Are _you_ asleep?"

He could almost see her rolling her eyes as she said, "I wouldn't be talking to you if I were, Danny."

He started to roll towards her just as she reached a hand out to him saying, "Here," and he realized that she was shoving his pajama pants back at him, that when he'd been tugging his jeans off, she'd been pulling them off to give back to him.

But that realization fled swiftly as he realized that it was a slim Sam wearing nothing but that little black negligee who was practically pressed against him, that it was the woman he'd loved since he was a boy, and she was _so_ close, and she smelled _so_ good. He could see her faintly in the dark, thought he could see her eyes as they stared at him, startled and wide. Thought that he could see as she bit her lip in fear or nervousness, but it didn't really matter to Danny at all right then, not when she was right there with him, and all it took was for him to take the pajama pants from her, drop them somewhere far away from between them, and slide his arm around her to pull her closer.

"Danny," she whispered, and Danny knew that no matter what happened next, there was no going back for him. Maybe she could, but he couldn't. He did the only thing he could do. He kissed her.

**And we lay, we lay together just not  
Too close, too close (How close is close enough?)  
We lay, we lay together just not  
Too close, too close**

Sam knew that she surprised Danny the second that his mouth met hers and, instead of pulling away like he'd expected, she moved closer, now truly pressed into him, feeling the heat and hardness of him against her as she parted her lips for him, tasting him as he slipped his tongue inside her mouth. It couldn't be helped, the way he felt against her, the warmth of his fingers as they gripped her side almost painfully tight, the staccato rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her hand.

She could taste the chocolate of his ice cream in his mouth, and below it a darker, more masculine taste that she knew had to be Danny and Danny alone. Truly, the two fake-out make-outs that they'd had when they were fourteen did no justice to the way the man kissed. And the way he'd touched her at fourteen was… Pitiful at best when compared to the things he was doing now.

The second he realized that she wasn't going to fight Danny's fingers had let go of her and, before Sam could protest, had started to skim down the length of her body. She whimpered against his mouth as his hand found the small of her back and pulled her closer, willingly going and letting herself melt against him. Almost as if he understood the language of her body Danny lowered his hand further, letting it caress across the curve of her hip to grasp her thigh and pull her that much more firmly against him.

The tilt of his hips as he angled her back settled the length of him against her and Sam gave a gasping moan into his mouth before her head slipped back as he moved against her, the friction between the silk of her panties and the cotton of his boxers creating a delicious heat that spread up through her body. Another moan, this time as Danny lowered his mouth to the pale arch of her neck and attacked it, lips, tongue and teeth laving it as he brought his other hand up to slip one thin, dark silken strap down her shoulder.

Danny's mouth dropped lower to press a kiss to the crook of her neck before ghosting across to her shoulder, placing another kiss there as Sam moaned beneath him. He was settled, snug between her legs, slowly working lower. Sam arched her body against him as she felt him slide the other strap off and begin to work the other strap down, his mouth dancing from one collarbone to the other as he moved to the soft skin of her other shoulder. From the tension along his body she knew that he wanted more, and that he was afraid to take it.

So she gave it to him.

Without a second thought she pushed him back, gently but abruptly, making confusion, worry, fear streak across his face as she followed him, pulling herself upright. She only smiled as she reached for the hem of the short negligee, giving it an unsubtle jerk and pulling it up and over her head. She tossed it then, Danny's eyes following it just long enough to see it land in the same vicinity that the almost returned pajama pants had landed, before turning his eyes back to her.

She wasn't sure if she was pleased or not when his gaze never wavered from her own. Murky blue eyes locked on hers, and through the darkness she saw his jaw tense and then relax as he reached a hand out to her. She tried not to, but Sam couldn't help but lean into his touch, letting the warmth of the hand cupping her cheek seep through her as she looked up at him.

"You're sure about this? About you and me and this?" he asked softly, eyes burning into hers.

She only nodded.

Without another word Danny guided her back down to the bed and Sam could only sigh, smile, and close her eyes as he lowered his mouth back to hers. His fingers ghosted down her sides, like he wanted to touch her and was too afraid. Sam almost sighed in annoyance before she felt the calloused grip of one hand smoothly cupping her breast, thumb flicking across the nipple so that she arched into him, a strangled gasp of pleasure being swallowed into his mouth as he kissed her more firmly, tongue sliding against hers as she tried to breathe through the sensations.

Then his mouth left hers and drifted back down her throat, across her collarbone, and before Sam could even smile with anticipation he kissed her breast, tongue flicking out to test the nipple much as his thumb had. And when he lowered his mouth to her, to kiss and suck and lap at the tender flesh, she could only mewl her pleasure and feel the way his mouth curved in a pleased smile. She was overly sensitive, she knew it, and knew it was because her experience in the bedroom was limited. Nonexistent, actually, unless she counted anything done alone…

She didn't. For all intents and purposes, she was a virgin, and completely new to the touch of a man's hands.

It was this knowledge that had her gasping his name as his mouth slipped lower to delve his tongue into her bellybutton, kisses placed gently, hotly against the smooth skin of her stomach. This secret that made her so pleased that he'd made the move, had asked, had touched. _Was_ touching. She'd always known that she wanted her first time to be with someone she loved.

It was just beautiful that it was with the one man she loved more than anyone else in the world, and that she hadn't had to eventually settle for a pale replacement for the love of her life.

"Sam?" he murmured, and she glanced down to see him looking up at her, his fingers slipping around the waistband of the panties, and the gentle pressure that was his real request. Without a second thought she lifted her hips and allowed him to slide them down her legs and throw them—where she didn't know, and more importantly, didn't care.

But the expected toss that should be his boxers, and the weight of his body against hers never came, and she looked down at him, the question in her eyes as she saw him smile up at her, an unexpected glint in his blue eyes, dark and uncompromising. His fingers danced along the firm skin of her thighs, gently rubbing and caressing as he watched her. Before she could question it Danny had bent his head and sealed his mouth against her.

A helpless sound escaped her at the first sure stroke of his tongue, and Sam lifted her hips in place without ever meaning to. His mouth moved over her mercilessly, tongue swirling and stabbing and stroking until her entire body was quivering beneath his touch. He lapped at her again, this time letting his fingers stroke gently across her sensitive flesh as he lifted his mouth to look up at her and watch the soft sheen of sweat that slicked across her body.

"You like that, huh?" he asked, almost on a smirk. His voice was harsh with pleasure and desire, knowing that he could do this to her, make his Sam come so undone that she couldn't even string a coherent response together.

"Danny…" Her voice was soft and her body moved against his hand, and Danny let a finger slip to her entrance, barely dipping inside her as he lowered his mouth to briefly lash against her with his tongue.

She moaned, long and low, and Danny smiled as he looked up again. "You like it?"

"Please." The plea was almost lost as she whimpered again, and Danny stroked her again.

"Tell me, Sam?" Almost an order, but not quite. Close, but nothing like what he'd intended. Sam could hear the yearning in his voice as he asked it. She bit her lip as he slid his mouth across her again, tongue delving inside of her for a moment before he looked again—she could feel his eyes on her even if the desire had her near blind with it.

"Yes," she hissed out as another wave swarmed over her and broke, lifting her that much higher. A peculiar fire was burning deep within her, and she just _knew_ that if he touched her again for more than a moment, if he just kissed her, god, if he even spoke to her again in that sensual voice, she'd come undone…

Without warning his mouth was on her again, and then he was sinking one long, hard finger inside her. She went completely to pieces, knowing somewhere in the back of her mind that the way she was crying out, calling his name, had to be heard throughout the entire little motel. Hell, the town was small enough that everyone knew what Danny was doing to her. But she couldn't bring herself to care.

All that mattered was her and him and the way it felt.

When she could hear again, see again, when she could just breathe again, she let out a long shuddering breath through half smiling lips. "You did like it, then," she heard Danny murmur as he placed a gentle kiss to her before crawling up her body.

"I'll kill you when I can feel my toes again," she whispered on a shaky laugh.

He chuckled against her neck, his face buried there for a moment as her breath caught in her throat again, the feeling of him brushing against her startling her. He lifted his face and looked down at her wondering expression and gave her a half hearted shrug. "Ghost powers come in handy for all sorts of things," he murmured as moved against her a little more firmly.

She bit back the moan and Danny smiled lazily down at her. "So, when you can feel your toes?" She nodded, and the grin turned wicked. "I guess I'll just have to make sure you never feel your toes again."

He kissed her then, wiping the smart remark he knew she was about to say clear out of her mind, and then moved against her and into her. It was a quick, firm thrust, and she was much tighter than he'd expected. It wasn't until he realized that her eyes were closed, her body was tense and her face was buried against his chest that Danny knew exactly what he'd done.

"Oh, shit, oh, fuck. Sam, god, I'm so sorry," he muttered rapidly as he tried to pull away from her. She wouldn't let him, legs locking around him so that he remained deep inside of her, arms clinging to him and not letting him budge as much as an inch.

He heard her in the spaces between his harsh breathing, the faintest whimper, and this time not from any pleasure he was giving her. "Sam, please," he started but was cut off when she moved her face from his chest and looked up at him.

Her eyes were bright and he knew that for at least a moment she'd been close to crying. Danny hated himself in that moment but she shook her head. "Don't, Danny. Don't say it, and _please_, don't move for a minute. Okay?"

And he didn't, for a full minute and then some. Her breathing evened out and he could feel her relaxing as she became accustomed to him, and Danny nearly sighed in relief as he realized that she wasn't hurting anymore. Or at least if she was hurting, it wasn't as bad as it had been with the initial hurt he'd unwittingly given her. He bit his lip and pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes closed as hers were.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered, his mouth close enough to hers that he could as soon kiss her as talk.

He could feel it when her mouth curved into a smile. "Would you have done this if I'd told you?" she asked as she moved carefully beneath him, her hips shifting a fraction of an inch.

He groaned, half from the pleasure and half from the question. "No," he choked out as she moved again. "But why?"

His eyes were open and staring into hers when she answered. "Because I wanted it to be you." And this time when she moved it was in earnest and Danny couldn't find the strength to keep still anymore.

She didn't shift away from him, she didn't close her eyes or try to hide any pained sounds or movements, and Danny was reassured by it as he lower his mouth to hers again, kissing her gently as he began to thrust in earnest, unable to resist the heat of her, the way her legs tangled around his and urged him inside of her. The way her amethyst eyes darkened and were half slit as he made love to her.

The way her lips parted as he drove her into madness, her breath escaping in little moans and gasps and whimpers. The way she was all at once boneless beneath him and yet moving with him perfectly. Her hands in his hair, drawing his face down to hers to capture his lips, her tongue across his before another moan broke from her throat and her head dropped back again. Telling him in a dozen tiny ways how much she wanted him and needed him and loved him, even if she wasn't able to give voice to the words.

She loved the tiny noises that came from the back of his throat, the way his hips moved against hers. The way the steady rhythm he'd created with her began to fall apart as he, she, as they both began succumbing to it. The hand on her thigh, squeezing and caressing and then grabbing, to lift it up and press it alongside his waist as he shifted his body against hers to change the angle of his thrusting.

It made the difference, and Sam's world splintered around her as she clung to him, knowing that he wasn't very far behind as he pressed his face against her neck giving one last thrust as he buried himself inside her. He was whispering her name, a broken plea that she could barely hear through the ecstasy.

"Sam, I—oh, God, Sam…"

_I love you._

**I just wanna break you down so badly  
Well I trip over everything you say  
Well I just wanna break you down so badly  
In the worst way**

He woke before her and was already dressed before she made her first stretch of the morning. It was awkward; she could admit it freely, if only to herself. He, fully clothed and lounging on the side of the bed with some kind of fast food breakfast half eaten in his hand before he put it down. Her entirely naked but for the sheet that she was tangled in. and when Danny looked at her she gave him a hesitant smile.

A smile that he returned freely as he leaned down, brushing her hair from her face and pressing a kiss to her forehead, then another to her lips before saying so very quietly, "Morning."

Her thoughts were frayed as she slipped off of the bed, the sheet coming with her as a shield against his eyes—no matter that she'd had his mouth on her in places she'd only dreamed of. Sam found herself unwontedly shy. Random clothes were grabbed from her duffel, and she was disappearing into the bathroom for a quick shower with blessedly hot water to sooth the ache of never used muscles. It helped, even with the unexpected tension in her body as she wondered about it.

Surely it meant something to him. It meant so damned much to her… But how could she tell him? He was male, and in his twenties. In college. And he'd obviously known what he was doing. She could only hope that she wasn't a conquest, a notch to be added to his bedpost when he got back to Amity.

She jumped when he knocked softly on the door. "Sam? I got the car and settled up for the room."

"O-okay," she managed to get out before she closed her eyes. It was irrational, the fear. But she was clean, and she was dressed, and the only thing left to do was to stop hiding like a child and confront him.

See what his reaction was.

The handle was wet and warm beneath her hand as she turned it and stepped out. She didn't look around as she laid the towels out on the counter to dry, nor as she shoved her clothes into her duffel and tossed her toothbrush, paste and deodorant in. _Then_ she looked up, and shook her head as she realized she was alone. The door was open, and she could see Danny stuffing his own bags into the trunk of his beloved Chevelle, and she zipped hers up with a sigh.

With a toss it was flying towards the door as she gave the room a once over to make sure nothing had been missed, only to be startled out of her scrutiny by the scrape of his shoe at the doorway, and she turned, eyes wide. He was staring at her with the oddest expression on his face, a sort of wistful half smile that she'd seen so many times before. Since they'd been kids in high school, she remembered as she turned fully. How many times had she seen him like that? Seen him start to say something only to stop and say nothing in the end?

"Did you get everything?" she asked to break the silence, not sure if it was uncomfortable or not. He didn't answer.

"You look so beautiful, Sam," he said quietly before closing the distance between them in two long, sure strides. His fingers buried themselves in the dampened strands of her hair and he pulled her closer. "So damned beautiful."

He kissed her, much more chastely than she'd expected, but it was enough to take her breath away. And it was more than enough to make her insecurities die an ugly little death as he held her against him, his lips against hers and his hands holding her face gently.

And when he pulled back the peculiar little expression was gone. But, she realized with a flush of relief, this time he'd said something. He'd told her that she was beautiful, and then he'd kissed her.

Maybe that's what he'd been wanting to say all along.

---

It was the little things that made the rest of the trip. They were silent as they drove out of the little town that they would never forget. It was hard to forget when one became lovers with the person they loved, and for that alone it was unforgettable. The highway was clear and the interstate had next to no traffic on it as Danny followed the curve of the on ramp, his foot pressing slowly but steadily down on the gas pedal.

The Chevelle responded beautifully, more so than expected for a vehicle that was in its fortieth decade of rumbling down the road—a testament to its restoration, and to the mechanic in the middle of nowhere.

But the purr of the engine was only music to Sam's ears for so long. They hadn't been on the road for even an hour before one slim hand reached out to fiddle with the stereo system Danny had painstakingly installed the day after his nineteenth birthday. It was, much to Sam's endless amusement, capable of CD's as well as cassette tapes, a rarity nowadays but standard for Danny: some of his favorite music was on cassettes. She knew that he had a collection of old Journey and Aerosmith and Eagles tapes he'd swindled from his parents in the glove box, but for the moment she was content to surf the free waves to see what she could find.

Danny grunted when she skimmed past a few stations that were far too poppy for both of them, and frowned in annoyance at her out of the corner of his eye when she passed up the oldies station. But then, Danny knew that if Sam had a choice of radio stations she would pick something that was rock. Or at least rockish. She listened to almost anything, but he knew her heart thrived on the alternarock scene.

If anything, he knew that she had hundreds (nay, thousands) of albums by too many bands to count. Hell, she wasted more money on CD's and concerts in a few months than he had in his whole life.

To her credit, and Danny was perfectly capable of giving credit where credit was due, she always offered to take him and Tucker along. Or, more usually, demanded. Some of the concerts she went to devolved into complete chaos with mosh pits breaking out anywhere there was enough even ground for a few people to bash themselves, and anyone who got in their way, together.

Those were the times Danny and Tucker acted as buffers. And those were the times they nursed a great many bruises and scuffs and scrapes and, even once, a broken bone. Only a finger, but Tucker had taken Sam to town for that and came out a new PDA and tons of upgrades ahead.

She settled on a station with a random beat that didn't sound familiar and Danny sighed as he realized that it would be hours before he got any control over the radio. Especially since he was the one driving and she had already proven that she was more than willing to argue over his music choices. She'd even pulled out the puppy dog eyes on the first leg of the trip to avoid having to listen to oldies for more than an hour. But, and Danny knew that she'd kill him the rest of the way if she knew, he didn't really mind her choice in music that much.

It wasn't like he didn't have his own collection of Breaking Benjamin and Fall Out Boy and the like. But what Sam didn't know wasn't going to hurt her. It might hurt him one day, but certainly not her. He'd smiled as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She looked so… not happy. Happy was too small of a word, to easily used and misinterpreted. You could be happy and not satisfied, or happy and not fulfilled. Happy and not any number of things that Danny didn't want to apply to Sam. But there were other words, and one in particular that he couldn't help but cling to as it crossed his mind.

Content. She looked content, and that was a million times better than happy. And it worked, because he knew he was the one who had helped her be that way. That knowledge warmed his heart nearly as much as loving her did.

He wasn't wrong about the radio. It took a lot longer to snag it than he'd expected. He drove till near exhaustion, and then let Sam behind the wheel of his baby in an attempt to make up as much time as they could. But the nap he managed to snag hadn't been nearly enough and Sam insisted on stopping for another hotel. It was well after dark and Danny argued the entire way into yet another town and to another tiny motel.

And argued again as she insisted on paying for the rooms. It was to the point where she followed him out of the car and into the lobby, startling the poor man on duty with the somewhat vehement bickering. To anyone who didn't know them it looked like a serious fight. Tucker would have said it was foreplay.

"You'll be needing rooms?" he offered with a hesitant smile, and Sam grinned at him as she clamped a hand over Danny's mouth.

"Yes, just for the night."

"And _I'm_ paying for them," Danny shot at her as he yanked her hand away from his mouth. He'd very nearly given in to the childish urge to lick her palm until she let him go.

The man fiddled with his keyboard and stared at the screen for a moment. "Two rooms?"

Danny opened his mouth to answer, but for once in his life he wasn't exactly sure what to say. He glanced at Sam unsurely and saw that she hadn't so much as looked at him, only smiled as Danny tried to figure out what to say. Say yes and lose the chance to have Sam sleeping next to him. Say no and possibly have her mad at him for assuming, which was a fate worse than death. Even if he was already half dead.

So in the end it was Sam who answered.

"No. Just one room," she said with a glance at Danny, amethyst eyes dark. "With a king sized bed."

---

"Hey! That was my finger!" Sam yelped as she pulled her hand back and examined her fingertips. She glared at Danny. "I see tooth marks," she muttered before fishing some more fries from the bag and holding them out to Danny.

"Well, if _someone_ hadn't eaten my lime and vinegar chips I wouldn't have had to starve for four hours until the next exit with food," he said pointedly. "Not naming names or anything. But I am a guy. I have to eat all the time to just function."

Sam stuck her tongue out at him and chuckled. "I don't know. You function pretty well without food. Without sleep."

He grinned at her. "Are you complaining?"

She shook her head. "No." It was easier to admit that. He'd been no less attentive the night before, and even if they were both still exhausted, it was a good exhausted, and worth it. She'd waited years for this kind of exhaustion, and she was going to hold on to it with both hands while she had it.

She dug another fry out and popped it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully for a moment.

"Sam." Danny's voice pulled her back to the present and she glanced over at him with an absent smile. "Those are my fries. You already ate yours."

"And I have the bag. Which makes all of them mine."

Danny took up the argument with relish as they drove, and neither of them noticed when they crossed into California.

**I just wanna break you down so badly  
Well I trip over everything you say  
I just wanna break you down so badly  
In the worst way (worst way)**

Pasadena was not what either of them had expected. Or at least it wouldn't have been if either of them knew what to expect. But the CalTech campus was a refreshing mixture of foreign and familiar with the expected student filled atmosphere that was universal and yet the almost LA almost beach scene that was completely southern California. They didn't necessarily have to drive through the CalTech campus to get to the house that Tucker was splitting with three other roommates, but it was easier to cut through and follow Tucker's directions than to circumvent the slower campus speed limits and try and find their way around.

Sam was enthralled, but Danny had expected that the second they'd laid wheel on the verdant grounds. Danny was annoyed. He just wanted to get there now that they were so close. He could easily admit to himself that a great deal of that was born from his desire to turn down Tucker's offer of staying with him, and Danny's want of getting another hotel room with Sam. It wasn't going to happen though; it would likely be the last time the three stayed under the same roof for another few years while Tucker worked on his Master's and Sam fought her way into environmental politics in New York.

He couldn't take that away from them. It'd been too long since they'd all chilled.

Of course at nearly ten o'clock at night there would be no chilling. Even if Tucker wasn't halfway asleep (or having his mind warped by the internet or a new videogame) Danny knew that both he and Sam were well on their way to passing out. Even if he'd managed to talk her into a hotel, there would be nothing but sleep, albeit sleep wrapped around her was good enough for him.

"I think that's it," Sam said as Danny followed the last turn in Tucker's directions and got a glimpse of the house Tucker was living in.

"Sam, that's not a house," he managed as he pulled into the drive in front of it.

She laughed. "I wonder who they're renting it from. Bill Gates?"

"You're here!" came the shouted greeting as the front doors were flung open and Tucker flew out. He'd gotten taller since high school and completely dwarfed Sam as he wrapped her in a tight hug, lifting her from the ground and swinging her around. His hug for Danny was manlier with much back pounding, but no less enthusiastic for it. "You guys are so late. You're only going to have a few days before you have to drive back."

Sam shrugged and pointed at Danny. "It's his fault for buying defective parts."

"Hey!" Danny said as he tugged the bags from the trunk. He tossed hers to Tucker. "Just for that I'm never letting you drive it again."

"So," Tucker said as he led them inside and closed the door behind them. There was a snick as it locked itself automatically, but Tucker didn't even flinch as it did so Danny assumed that it was a normal function of the house. "You let Sam drive the Chevelle. You never let _me_ drive the Chevelle."

Danny shrugged as he glanced around the massive living room. "You were also never trapped into making up two days worth of driving. When I said we were taking the scenic route I meant to see some sights, not be trapped in Nowheresville." He let out a low whistle. "Tucker, my man. You're living like a king."

Tucker snorted. "It's a technogeek's heaven," he said.

"How are you affording it?" Even Sam had to wonder at it. Tucker's family wasn't as fiscally able as hers, and nothing in recent years had indicated Tucker inheriting a small fortune. It was a wonder.

The house itself was massive, and set back on a lot that was barely big enough for it. The living room was done in smoky greens and medium colored woods complete with a fireplace that probably had never been used. There was a large flat screen mounted on one of the walls with theatre style couches vaguely positioned towards them, and too many colored dots behind dark glass in built in niches surrounding the television. Beyond it they could see the kitchen, done in matching wood and blues that complemented the green. Beyond that was a wall of glass that led out on to a yard that was larger than Sam would have expected, given how close the house was to the curb in front. It was dominated by a slate tiled pool and Jacuzzi. It was too dark to make out much more than the moonlight glinting from the water, and she turned to Tucker expectantly and rolled her eyes as he laughed sheepishly.

"I, uh, I'm not paying for it," he said with a faint grin. "It's part of the private scholarship deal thing. For my Master's. I got offered the scholarship at the beginning of the year and when I accepted it I got to move in here. One of the perks."

"I want perks like that," Danny said with a laugh as Tucker shrugged and started up the stairs.

"It's not bad. Really, it's great," he said. "I'm on the second floor with Darcy. You won't see her, she went home for spring break. But we've got two guest rooms here. This one," Tucker said as he dropped Sam's bag just inside the first door on the left, "is yours, Sam. Darcy's is across the hall."

Darcy was an individual, Sam decided as she took in the hand painted door that labeled the room as hers. Too much of it was scientific, and Sam could only assume part of it was an inside joke that was more perverted than scientific. But she wasn't going to ask. Tucker pointed at the closed door next to Darcy's and said, "That's mine. Danny's is the one after that."

The layout was only logical because of the open air above the living room. The hall was bordered with a wood and glass railing that was modern and timeless all at once. She decided she was in love and made a mental note to find out who the architect and decorator were. She had an inheritance that was made to spent on a home like that.

Sam glanced in the room Tucker had given her and her jaw dropped. "That's a huge bed, Tucker."

He laughed. "California king. Guaranteed to be the biggest bed you've ever slept in without custom construction."

"Yeah," she said. "Plenty of room to move." She was proud that she didn't so much as glance at Danny. He was a smart guy. He'd figure out the invitation if he wanted.

"Right, so you guys must be tired. I'll introduce you to Evan tomorrow. He's up on the third with Alex, but Alex also went home for the holidays. Evan stayed; he's on my team," Tucker explained. "So you guys have a good night's sleep, and tomorrow we can get started with the fun."

Good night's were said and Danny watched with shadowed eyes as Sam closed her door behind her. "Right. Shower, sleep." He shouldered his bag and smiled at Tucker. "I'll see you in the morning."

---

He was smooth. Beyond smooth. But his intelligence was severely lacking. The shower had been an experience in itself, one of those expensive and luxurious arrangements with the sprays that ran up and down the wall and a big, oversized showerhead that let the water rain down. It had been relaxing, even when he tried turning the water ice cold in an effort to keep himself from sneaking to Sam's room and taking her up on her offer. A futile attempt; he knew he would anyway.

The trouble had come during the actual sneaking. For a guy who was half ghost and a fairly brilliant tactician, he'd certainly gone about it stupidly. Instead of slipping through the walls, or at least just going invisible, he's just crept down the hall like a teenager sneaking out.

But how Tucker had known to open his door at that exact moment escaped Danny. And Tucker had known, because the look on his face and the languid way he leaned against the door frame practically screamed, "I know you're up to something."

"So," he said into the quiet hallway. "What's going on?"

"Nothing?" Danny tried. And failed miserably, because he was only three steps from Sam's door in nothing but his pajama pants and bare feet, and it was painfully obvious that something certainly _was_ going on.

Tucker gave him a glare. "Right. Try that on someone that doesn't know you both as well as I do. You let her drive your car. That was a clue right there. You're all touchy feely with her, and don't try to deny it, I saw you two practically cuddling as you stood next to each other." Tucker ticked them off on his fingers. "The way you look at each other, and you don't even blush. And don't try and tell me she didn't invite you to spend the night with her."

Danny took a breath, let it out, and shrugged. "Alright. I won't."

Tucker's jaw dropped and he gaped at his best friend. "You guys finally got together?"

Danny bit his lip then he shrugged again, rubbing one arm self consciously. "I don't know. There's something going on. I don't know exactly what it is, for her at least." He looked Tucker in the eyes and didn't even blink as he said, "But it's serious for me. I'm in love with her."

Tucker sighed, shaking his head. "Tell me something I don't already know. I think most of Amity Park knows that one by now."

Danny glared. "I'm not that obvious."

Tucker arched an eyebrow and chuckled. "Um, dude? Yeah. You are. I think she was the only one who didn't notice. Or did you never wonder why her parents hated you and not me?"

"Well, that does make sense."

"If it helps," Tucker offered. "I'm pretty sure she loves you, too."

Danny smiled faintly but said nothing.

"So you know that this is the part where I threaten bodily harm if you hurt her, right?" Tucker asked.

Danny bit back a laugh as he flushed red. "Yeah. Not a problem, don't intend on ever hurting her."

"Just so we're clear." Tucker's door whispered shut and Danny let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding.

Three steps and a gentle tap later he was slipping through the door that Sam opened for him and wrapping his arms around her with a sigh. Her hair was still wet and smelled like flowers as he buried his face in it, holding her tightly. "Tired," he murmured as she tugged him to the bed and down beside her. "Can I just hold you?"

She made a soft noise of assent and burrowed her way against his side. "G'night, Sam," he murmured. Only soft steady breathing answered him, and Danny smiled in the dark.

---

"It was nice," Sam said as she settled back into the still familiar passenger seat of the Chevelle. "We'll have to come visit him again during summer."

Danny arched a dark eyebrow at her as he carefully steered his way into the fast lane of the interstate. "Come here? Tuck's coming home for summer." The look she gave him spoke volumes and he chuckled. "Okay, so he'll stay here in technogeek heaven. It's really creepy to know that it's a Dalv scholarship."

"But perfectly safe," she pointed out, "since you killed Vlad and will own Dalv in a few years." She bit her lip, chewing the delicate skin for a moment before smiling widely at him. "When you own the house can you get me a copy of the plans? I want a house like that."

Danny laughed. "How about when I own the house I just give it to you?"

"But what about the scholarship kids? Are you going to cancel the scholarships?"

Danny smirked. "Nah. But I can build more houses for them. If you like that one so much, you can have it."

She grinned and twisted in the seat. "Can you move it, too? California's nice, but I still like home better."

It was the first time since they'd started the trip that Danny wasn't sure what Sam meant. Half of him was afraid that she meant New York. The other half was hoping that she meant Amity Park. Instead of answering he only tightened his grip on the steering wheel and absently switched lanes to move around a slower moving car before sliding back to the right and settling in for the drive.

"So, Vegas, right?" Sam asked after a long while of silence.

Danny made a noncommittal sound, then sighed softly. "Yeah, Vegas. Straight shot along here, then I thought we could get off on 70 and go through Denver. Nothing much fun after that, just Middle America, but I hear the Rockies are nice this time of year."

Sam smiled.

**I'm gonna make damn sure that you can't ever leave  
No, you won't ever get too far from me  
You won't ever get too far from me  
I'll make damn sure that you can't ever leave**

Vegas was a blast.

When they got there the strip was already lit for the night—it came earlier in the desert where the world was below sea level—and Danny and Sam found themselves arguing over where to stay. Danny wanted to go to Caesar's Palace, he'd already heard Sam rave about how awesome it was when her Grams took her as a graduation present. Sam wanted to try the MGM Grand, because she'd already been to Caesar's and it was old school now. In the end they compromised, though they never agreed to.

Danny was the first to lay eyes on it: tall, towering, with brilliantly reflective windows colored gold. He stopped Sam in the middle of her sentence and dragged her face around to see what he was looking at and said, "There. We're staying there."

She laughed at him. "And why there?"

"Because the windows tell me we'll win in the casino," he answered with all seriousness.

"The windows are talking to you?" she snickered behind a hand as she started to look at the hotel next to it. And then she saw the name of Danny's dream casino and a smile split her face. "Oh, Danny, you're right. We're staying there."

The valet was well done, and Danny tipped him as he deserved, but there were several other people waiting and Danny sighed as he realized that it would be a few before someone got to their bags. But Sam just smiled and laid a hand on his arm as she arched a dark brow at him. "No, Danny. We won't have to wait. Watch, and see how it's done."

Two second later a porter walked past them and Sam sent him a beaming smile and instructed him to take their bags to check in. Then she said, "And tell them that Samantha Manson is here, of the Long Island Manson's."

The check in was gratuitously fast with the fawning manager jumping them in front of another couple and a party of too many to be counted. They ended up with a suite on the thirty-ninth floor that had been reserved by someone else and, try as Danny might to feel guilty, he just couldn't, because the second they walked in it was like heaven in Vegas.

"So," he said after the bags had been delivered and the bellboy tipped and gone. "The Long Island Manson's?"

She only smiled lazily at him. "Did you really think that we got _all _of our money from deli toothpicks?"

Without a word further Sam only took Danny's duffel and hers and upended them in the middle of the floor before sorting her way through the clothes. With a frown she ended up just piling them up and then searching the kitchenette for a phone. That done she made a call and Danny just watched as she worked quickly and quietly.

"You know, Sam," he said when she was done issuing her orders disguised as requests over the phone. "For someone who doesn't flaunt her money much, you certainly know how to use it."

She stuck her tongue out. "Danny, Paris Hilton has nothing on me. Come on, let's go grab a shower."

"All of our clothes are dirty and in a pile in the middle of the floor."

"And they'll be gone when we get out," she answered in a singsong as she made her way to the larger of the two rooms and peered in, pleased.

Danny frowned. "What did you do, Sam?"

She smiled cagily. "There was a reason why I refused to do laundry at Tucker's. I hate doing my own laundry. Now we're paying someone else to do it."

He chuckled. "And we're going to stay here until said laundry is done?"

She shook her head. "What's the use of playing the princess if I don't drop a couple grand on a new outfit or two?" She grinned. "You always wanted to see me in a dress, Danny. Well, tonight you get to. And I get to see you in something other than a t-shirt and jeans."

He was at a loss for words at her declaration.

"Now," she said, and her tone turned impish. "Are you coming? Because I need someone to scrub my back."

---

The self conscious way he felt disappeared after the first hour of wandering the Mandalay with Sam at his side. She had, sneaky little thing that she was, ensured that their clothes were taken to be cleaned while they were in the shower. And, as promised, she'd dropped a couple grand on new clothes. For the both of them. And while dressing up wasn't something Danny did very often, he'd dropped his complaints the second Sam had emerged from the bathroom and ordered him to take her out.

She'd used the hair dryer that came with the room to dry her hair after the shower they'd shared. It was dark and shiny and he already knew exactly what it smelled like. He would, since he'd been the one to wash it for her. She'd pulled it back into a clip so that it gathered loosely at the nape of her neck leaving nothing but her bangs to swing around her eyes and make her look almost exotic and mysterious, but Danny could already see where strands were working themselves steadily loose.

Before the night was over he'd have the clip in his pocket. That he knew, too, because before the night was over he was going to have run his hands through her hair so many times that she'd get sick of fixing it.

The dress was slim, a fitted black sheathe that he couldn't figure out, for the life of him, how it was put on. It left too much pale leg free for his imagination for all that it covered the rest of her so wonderfully. Bare arms and a tiny little strap that slipped up one shoulder, around the back of her neck, and down the other. She wore diamonds at her ears, another at her throat, and her high school ring on her right hand. Next to no makeup; as far as Danny cared she looked best in nothing at all.

He'd told her that once and he supposed she remembered because all he could tell she was wearing was a bit of eyeliner and some lip gloss.

But it was really the heels that did him in and made him not care about anything else. The black heels that were strapped to her foot by a dozen thin straps and made her lips inches closer to his. For that alone he loved them, but the fact that they only made her legs look longer helped. And the way she walked—he'd never seen her in anything but her boots, sneakers, and a pair of sandals at the beach. Flats, all of them, and they did nothing for the woman's hips like the heels did.

The best (or worst; he'd yet to decide) part was that _she knew it_. And she took great pains to walk in front of him, or position herself just so if she leaned against anything. Or to tuck herself right up under his arm because with the heels her head rested higher on his shoulder and if he turned his head _just so_ his lips were very nearly on hers.

It was devilish. He loved it.

He was sure that the dress cost more than he wanted to know. He was already trying to figure out how to pay her back for the shirt and pants she'd gotten for him. He wouldn't have worn them if he'd had anything else to wear, not after seeing the price tags. After all, who in their right mind spent eight hundred dollars on a pair of plain black pants? Sam, apparently, so he wore them, and the blue shirt she'd gotten, too. She'd been overly thoughtful. The outfit was complete, right down to an undershirt and boxers, and there was no way in hell Danny was ever telling Tucker how thoroughly Sam had gotten to him.

But the outfit looked alright. She said that the shirt matched his eyes. He didn't care if it didn't or didn't because right after she said Sam let him kiss all of her lip gloss off of her.

They toured the shops, glanced around the restaurants, and Sam was firm as she steered him away from the casino. "I want to go look at something first, Danny," she insisted. "It's the only reason why we're staying here and not at the MGM."

He rolled his eyes. "I could have talked you into this."

"Oh, sure. Because you're so smooth, right, Danny?" she said with a snicker as she dragged him around another corner and into the beginning of an oversized fish tank.

"Whoa, what's this?" Danny asked her as he glanced through the glass at the brightly colored fish.

"An aquarium." Sam shook her head. "What does it look like?"

He took a startled step back. "It looks like trouble," he said as his eyes followed a dark, dangerous lithesome shape swimming less than three feet from him. "That's a shark, Sam. That's a really big shark."

She laughed at him. _Laughed._ Of all things she laughed. He scowled at her and she slid an arm around his waist. "The Mandalay has a shark reef, Danny. I've heard about it from some friends. I wanted to see it."

"You've seen it. Can we go?"

She laughed at him again and his scowl deepened. "Are you afraid of the sharks behind the glass? They can't get to you. It's inches thick and nobody is about to break it."

"Sam, I'm the king of bad luck. I'm jinxed. I don't like sharks, and when the imp of the perverse puts two and two together I'm going to end up swimming in there somehow." The sad thing was that Danny was perfectly serious.

She just smiled at him. "One time through it, okay? I promise I'll protect you."

How could he do anything but give in?

---

"It wouldn't have been this much fun if we'd gone in with the high rollers," Sam said over the shouting as they crowded in with the other members of the audience. They'd finally made it to the casino and someone had started a streak at one of the craps tables. In an effort to teach Danny the game Sam had dragged him over and attempted to be heard over the crowd.

She would have been better off trying to go ghost. It was impossible to be heard at less than a shout every time the dice hit the felt.

Danny already dragged her through the slots (he lost twenty there) and amid the blackjack tables (that had been closer to fifty) and she'd tried to get him away from the roulette wheels (that had been more than fifty, but less than the three hundred he still had in his wallet). And now, much to her chagrin, Sam realized that crowding Danny at a craps table probably wasn't the smartest thing to do.

"I want to try," he nearly yelled in her ear, and Sam winced. The damage was already done.

There was nothing to do but to follow Danny as he worked his way in to take the place of one of the players who'd either lost enough to call it quits, or won enough. He slid in and Sam snagged his wallet from his pocket and counted out a hundred to cash for chips. In short order she had him set up and three turns later the dealer was pushing the dice at Danny.

She picked them up and laid them in his hands. "Listen to me, Danny. It's a hundred in. You get one shot. Roll a seven or an eleven. Okay?"

He shifted. "It's more complicated than that, isn't it?"

"Not for you, it isn't," she smiled. "You just roll the dice and I'll take care of the rest."

It had to pure luck. He didn't have a clue how to play, he sucked a gambling period, but somehow, and Sam never could figure it out, rolled a seven. She watched in pleased surprise as the dealer stacked three chips next to the original one, and then the dice were back in Danny's hand as Sam stared at the now four hundred dollars worth of chips, still trying to figure it out.

"So, seven or eleven, right?" Danny asked with a smirk.

She leaned closer and flushed at the cat calls from around them as she was sure the crowd thought she promising wild sexual acts if he rolled another winner. "Did you use your powers?"

He shook his head as he pulled back. "Nope. Just rolled the dice. Betcha I can't do it again."

It had to have been that certainty that he wouldn't, Sam thought. The next roll was a seven, and more chips joined the small stack. She stopped him before he rolled again and ordered the chips moved. An eleven, this time, and Sam smirked a little as she realized that Danny was now the one with the streak. Another move of the chips, and a seven. The dealer traded nearly all of the chips in before Danny rolled again. It was another seven.

Another seven, an eleven, and Sam didn't really want to even think about what would happen if Danny rolled badly. But the dealer was looking at Danny and her, waiting to see if the chips were hopscotched across the board again. Danny looked at her and she bit her lip and shook her head. "Let it ride," she said softly enough that the dealer leaned forward to catch the instruction.

She turned to Danny. "No pressure, but do it again."

He grinned at her and pulled her close, nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck. "Anything for you, Sam."

She closed her eyes as the dice fell again and waited in the almost hush to find out if Danny'd done it again. It was still quiet, too quiet, and Sam wondered how she was going to explain to him what the chip values he'd just lost were worth. Except that then there was a whisper from the crowd, and there was the sound of chips dancing against the felt, and Sam found herself opening her eyes to see that the single hundred dollar chip Danny had started with had multiplied exponentially.

"Again?" Danny asked, and Sam shook her head at him and signaled the dealer that they were out.

"No, Danny. Not a chance in hell," she said, still in a surprised shock. "You don't know what you just did, do you, Danny?"

He shook his head. "I won?"

She chuckled and pointed at the dealer who was waving one of the Mandalay's security guards over and handing him a small satchel with Danny's chips in it. "We follow him," she said and dragged Danny along as she muttered, "Cash out," to the guard.

As they walked she slipped her arm in his. "Alright, you started with your chip. One chip, worth a hundred dollars, right?"

He nodded as they stopped at a closed door and were ushered in. "And now I've got a bunch of chips in crazy colors. I did good."

She laughed. "You did very good, Danny. Now watch as they count your winnings."

There was one stack that Danny recognized. "Okay, those are all hundred dollar chips. Right?"

"Yeah," Sam said as she pointed at the next stack. "And these are worth five hundred. And these are worth a thousand."

Danny blinked. "I did really good." His voice was a little tight as he realized exactly what he'd done.

"Call it beginner's luck," she said as the last of the chips were stacked and counted. With a glance for permission she fingered one of the chips in the smallest stack of three. "These are worth five thousand, Danny. You didn't have to go play with the high rollers to be one."

It was worth the look on his face when he got the official looking check.

---

Forty-seven thousand dollars. It was more than Danny had made in the last three years at his job. Not that he worked full time, or even really got paid all that well. But still, he would have had to work another four or five years there to make that much. And he'd done it in a single night with Sam at his side. It was probably one of the best things that had ever happened to him, outside of the things that involved Sam.

He had, at his absolute and utter insistence, treated her to a very late dinner at one of the restaurants next to the reef, where they could watch the sharks swimming languidly through the aquarium. Sam had been beautiful and sweet and had charmed the recipe for the eggplant parmesan out of the chef. Danny had watched the sharks carefully while he considered the fish on the menu. He'd stuck with steak in an attempt not to poke at fate.

After that he'd kissed her and played with her hair in the shadow of the reef until she let him tuck the clip away, and then he'd kissed her some more until he convinced her that the bed in their suite was more interesting than anything else the Mandalay could offer them at four in the morning. It was, and it was hours until Danny let her drop into a sated and exhausted sleep next to him, with his arms wrapped around her and his face buried in her hair at the nape of her neck.

He was too awake to sleep, somehow still energized from the rush that was Vegas. He'd offered to split the winnings with her, but Sam had just laughed and told that it had been his cash that started the streak. That was where he'd brought up food and demanded that he pay. But even with that money spent, the entirety of the check was still locked in the safe in the closet, waiting for him to take it home and add it to his account.

And the thoughts that check gave him…

There was enough there, added to his savings, and despite the money he'd taken out for the trip, to do what he'd been saving up for. There was a house on the west side of Amity that had come on the market his first year in college. The price had been outrageous, but it was sold within a matter of days. Less than three months later it had come back on the market.

It had gone through the same cycle three times before the for sale sign finally stayed up. And Danny had investigated.

It turned out that the house was haunted, and that the haunting had driven the price down by more than half. And now, if it was still on the market when he got him, Danny had enough to make an offer. Sure, he'd have to apply for a loan from his bank. But there wouldn't be a problem with that. He'd made sure of that when he'd started to seriously think about trying to make an offer months before.

The money was the only thing that had kept him from doing it. He wanted to be able to put enough down to keep the monthly mortgage low. And now he could. And maybe, he thought as he pulled Sam a little closer, he could talk her into it, too, make her an offer that was too good to refuse. A home, his heart, a life together.

The sun had long since risen when Danny's mind finally slowed enough to let him sleep. Less than an hour later the phone was ringing and Danny was fumbling to answer it before it woke Sam. It was the wakeup call they'd asked for, and Danny groaned and rubbed his eyes as he peered at the clock and realized how little sleep he'd actually gotten.

"Sam," he muttered as he shook her shoulder. "It's time to wake up. They called. We need to get on the road."

She whimpered and burrowed her face into the pillow. "Five more minutes?" she asked, mostly asleep, and Danny sighed.

"We have to get up. We have to go. Come on, Sam," he insisted as he tried to get her up and out of the bed.

She just wrapped herself around him and snuggled close. "No we don't. We can make it up later," she murmured as she dragged him back down to the bed and held him close.

It took Danny all of two minutes to relent and give in, forgetting the wakeup call and curling himself back around her until sleep found him again. But she was less than friendly when she woke up later. Much, much later. It was nearly five o'clock and the sun was only hours from setting, and her eyes were so very angry as she ripped the thick comforter off of him and tossed it on the floor as she seethed with annoyance.

"Danny, get up," she ordered. "We missed our wakeup call. We're running way behind. And why are you so tired? Didn't you get any sleep? What were you doing instead of sleeping?"

Danny tried not to laugh. He really did. The laugh got him a pillow in the face, but he was still wildly amused as he made his way to the bathroom for a quick shower before they hit the road. She was so angry because he'd let them both sleep, and how could he ever tell her he'd missed hours because he was contemplating buying a house and asking her to live with him. Forever.

But he wouldn't mind getting woken up by her every morning.

**No, you won't ever get too far from me  
You won't ever get too far from me  
You won't ever get too far from me (ever get too far)  
You won't ever get too far...**

She'd fallen asleep sometime after Grand Junction and before they hit Denver. The lights didn't even disturb her as he slipped through the sleeping city and found his way to I-25, and from there to I-76. It would merge into 80; then he could follow that through Nebraska and Iowa straight on into Illinois. He'd have to reroute and Chicago to take them back up to Amity Park, but that wouldn't be so bad. All he'd have to do is convince her to let them keep driving on until they were home.

He'd rather spend his last night with her sleeping next to him in his own bed, in his own apartment, instead of some strange and unfamiliar hotel in the middle of Chicago two hours from home.

He made it to the Colorado border and passed them into Kansas without disturbing her, but by the time he'd made it halfway through the state he was dying to hear something other than the purr of the Chevelle's engine, the sounds of tires moving across the road beneath them. Even the need to concentrate on the road was undercut by the silence around him, and Danny slowed the car down to the regular speed limit as he carefully and quietly reach past his sleeping Sam and let the glove box drop open so that he could reach in and grab a random cassette out.

He made sure to close it as quietly as he'd opened it before he saw what he'd grabbed, but he wasn't worried. There wasn't a single scrap of music in that glove box that he didn't already love. But out of all of his cassettes, Danny could easily say that the Eagles tape in his hand was probably the most well played.

It was on the B side, and Danny listened in silence as he drove steadily on towards Topeka and the Missouri border. The sun was just beginning to show the first signs of rising as the tape flipped to the A side, and Danny sighed a little as Sam shifted in her sleep so that she was leaning more to the side and trying to slip off of the seat that she'd leaned back so many hours before when she realized that she wasn't going to stay awake.

And as the song wound down Danny found himself with a still asleep Sam using his leg as a pillow as she tried to curl herself up on the front seat. She didn't look tired anymore, he mused as he glanced down at her. Her hair was streaked like inky strands across her face, and her breathing was slow and steady.

"_I was standing all alone against the world outside; you were searching for a place to hide."_

Danny bit his tongue with a faint grin as he found himself opening his mouth to start singing along. It wasn't his favorite song on the tape; he still thought _Desperado_ was totally rocked live and that the remake outshone the original like the sun when compared to a candle. But it didn't mean that he didn't know every word to every song, and it certainly didn't mean he didn't enjoy singing along.

But he didn't want to wake Sam. She looked so peaceful asleep, and as much as he enjoyed sleeping beside her, this was different. She seemed so much more vulnerable for some reason. Maybe it was just the fact that she trusted him enough to sleep while he drove. Maybe it was the way she had finally wormed her way around so that she could touch him. That was something, surely.

Barring the one occasion it had happened at the zoo while on gorilla watch (and God, he hoped that Sam had burned the picture) Tucker had always kept to his sleeping bag, his side of the car, his patch of grass, even when completely zoned out to the world.

So it had to mean something. It had to mean that Tucker was completely and utterly right. Or at least that she cared for him as much as he did for her. Except that that was an oxymoron and completely redundant, because it was the same thing. He smiled down at Sam as he thought that. Well, at least he could prove to her that he really did pay attention in class now. She'd be proud.

"_Don't you worry, sometimes you just gotta let it ride. The world is changing right before your eyes."_

He bit his lip and unconsciously eased his foot off of the accelerator a little, letting the needle drop from ninety-five to eighty. It wasn't the first time he'd listened, actually _listened_ to the words of the song. But it was the first time he'd really listened to them while Sam was with him, and now that they were… intimate seemed so passé, but he couldn't say that they were together.

Neither of them had spoken about a relationship. He'd been too afraid to broach the subject, even if he didn't know why she refused to mention it. Maybe 'lovers' was the best word for them. He could surely ease her from the thought of lovers to beloved, if he did it carefully enough.

Or maybe he could just let things go the way they were and trust in fate or destiny or some higher power to make things turn out the way he wanted. Everything had changed since they'd started this trip. Not that it hadn't changed years before when he was just a child realizing he was in love with his best friend. That had been a hell of a change to realize at fifteen.

Now he was twenty-one, an adult, out on his own, and the knowledge how helplessly and hopelessly in love with her he was still scared the life out of Danny. She changed everything, just by being.

Without a thought he reached down to brush the hair form her face and eyes, slowing more and smiling as she blinked sleepily up at him. "Morning," he said softly, barely loud enough to be heard over the radio.

She smiled a little at him. "Is it morning already?"

He nodded and lifted his hand to point at the dawning sun where it painted the sky before them in pinks and purples and misty silvers. "Just about; the sun started rising a bit ago."

She yawned but didn't move to sit up or even return to her side of the front seat. "You let me sleep all night."

"You were tired," he said as he dropped his hand back down to smooth his fingers down her shoulder and then lay it on her side. He smiled as he felt her hand find his and twine their fingers together.

"Wake me up when you want to trade, okay?"

He didn't answer, just let the song play on and lull her back to even breathing and restful slumber. Once he was sure she was gone again, he wedged his knee against the steering wheel and reached across it with his now free hand to turn the music up a little, loathe to wake her by tugging his hand from hers.

"_I would you die for you, climb the highest mountain. Baby, there's nothing I wouldn't do."_

This time Danny just sang softly along, content with his arm resting on her side, her hand clasped firmly in his.

---

"Danny, we don't need gas," Sam said, exasperated as he trundled the Chevelle down an off ramp that wasn't on the map. "We got gas before we left Chicago, and we only left an hour ago. You can't empty a perfectly good gas tank in an hour, not even driving your parents' GAV."

"I'm thirsty," he said with a smirk as they drove past a gas station complete with convenience store.

"Danny."

"Sam," he said back with equal gravity, though he couldn't mimic the annoyance she'd used.

She only glared at him as he sped along the road as quickly as he could. It dead ended on a stretch of sandy beach and the dark lapping waters of Lake Michigan. Still silent she followed him until she was leaning against the hood of the Chevelle next to him as he watched the water growing darker as the sun set behind them.

"I wasn't sure if we could get here before sunset," he said suddenly, startling her from the silence. "I knew we were going to hit traffic the second we made it to St. Louis. And I knew we'd have to stop to see the Arch. I wanted a picture of it, too," and he flashed her a grin. "And I knew we'd hit even more traffic in Chicago. Weekday, middle of the afternoon. Don't have to be a genius to figure that out."

"So why?" she asked, not even sure what she was asking. Maybe she was asking why he'd been so intent on getting to Chicago and turning northward, homeward. Maybe she was asking why it mattered. Somehow, she thought she was asking why it was so important for them to be there, right there, right then, at sunset.

He looked down at her and turned so that he was leaning with his hip. His eyes were dark, but she knew the look on his face. It was the face he'd worn so often when they were kids, the face she thought she'd never have to see again after the morning they left their little sanctuary in Oklahoma. A face that was want and longing and love and fear and a million other things all at once that made her heart ache as he smiled and reached for her.

His lips were gentle on hers, as gentle as the first kiss they'd shared in the middle of nowhere. His hands were at her waist, pulling her insistently closer, but not forcing her. There was no need; she went willingly, snaking her arms up and around his neck as they kissed. The sun sank and the wind that moved in off of the lake was cold, but the shivers she felt weren't because of it.

Somehow, just the feel of his body against hers was enough to make her break out into goose bumps. He pulled back a little, blue eyes burning into hers, and Sam couldn't smile, couldn't even do more than look back and hope. He gave her a little half smile and pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth in a careful and chaste kiss.

"Sam," he started, but said nothing as he pulled her against him again.

Again she went, willing slave to her love, and laid her head against his chest as the sun continued its journey past the horizon. It was full dark before either of them said anything, moved, even thought. And when one of them did, it was her, breaking the silence that had been built over years.

"I don't want this to end," she whispered. She wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad when he didn't say anything.

**I just wanna break you down so badly  
Well I trip over everything you say  
Well I just wanna break you down so badly  
In the worst way (worst way)  
**

It had only just gone nine o'clock when Danny parked the Chevelle in front of his building. Somehow the happy homecoming wasn't exactly what he'd hoped. Sam was quiet and withdrawn, and he wasn't too much better. His mind kept going to the next morning and the fact that she was boarding a plane back to New York at a quarter after twelve. She would leave and this would become nothing more than a memory.

Without a word he slid out of the car and headed for the trunk. He shouldered his duffel bag and the little bag of souvenirs he'd gotten in Vegas and then reached for Sam's, but a slim hand on his stopped him. When he looked up she shook her head at him and picked it up, and her backpack where it was tucked against the wheel well, slipping it on and turning her back on him as she headed straight for the stairs.

She knew where his apartment was, they'd made a single stop there between the airport and the first leg of the road trip. She'd wanted to grab a quick shower after being cooped up on a plane from New York to Chicago to Amity Park. She was waiting at the door when he got there and flipped through his keys before sliding one in the lock and twisting it. The door opened, they both went quietly in, and he closed the door, locking it was an ominous sounding click.

Without thinking Danny dropped his bags next to the door with hers and reached out for her. "Sam, I—"

She stopped him with a hand over his mouth, keeping his face turned down as the backpack slid from her shoulders and hit the floor with a thud. "Don't, Danny. Don't say anything." Then her lips were on his and Danny didn't really care what he'd been about to say. Better that he just take what he had right now, and maybe later he could sort it out into something he understood.

The apartment was dark as Sam drew him deeper within, the only light being the lamp next to the door, but their steps were sure as they found their way to his room and the bed. He was careful as he pulled away from her, fingers skimming down her arms and then slipping to her waist and the hem of her shirt. He drew it up slowly, eyes still adjusting to the darkness, but he could see the way her chest rose as she breathed in sharply when his fingers skimmed the edges of her lace covered breasts before he tugged the shirt over her head and let it drop to the floor.

"Wait," he whispered as she started to tug on his shirt.

With a flick of his fingers tiny little flames sprang to life on the stand next to his bed, glaringly green for a moment before the ectoplasm wore itself out and left nothing but clean orange-yellow flames behind. Her eyes darted to the candles for a moment before finding his again, and he smiled down at her.

"Yeah. Your candles. I only burned them the once," he said softly as he took her back in his arms and laid her gently back on the bed.

"For luck," she replied as she watched him pull his shirt off over his head and let it drop to the floor. His fingers were hot as they undid the snap of her jeans and started tugging them down, only to be caught up with a curse that was half laugh as he worked the laces of her boots until he could take them and the jeans off to lie in a crumpled heap at the foot of the bed.

She was biting her lip as Danny let his own jeans fall to the floor but the worried gesture was quickly turned to a whispered moan as he knelt on the edge of the bed, running his hands up her legs as he followed them with his mouth. She squirmed on a gasping laugh as his tongue flicked into her belly button, and Sam tugged him further up so that she could kiss him, her hands playing along the hard lines of his shoulders as she arched her back for him to undo the clasp of her bra.

The second it was off Danny's mouth slipped from hers to suckle at her breast, leaving her to gasp as his tongue flicked across the nipples. She nearly protested when he stopped, but the thought was completely given up when his fingers looped themselves around the hem of her panties. She started to lift her hips but her skin chilled as he gave a pull and smirked as the lacy black material returned to tangibility. She laughed and plucked them from his hand before dropping them over the edge of the bed.

"Nice trick. Do it to yours," she commanded as she yanked on the edge of his boxers.

And then her eyes were closing as he sank into her with a groan, drinking in the way the candlelight played across her pale skin and the way her lips fell apart on a whimper that sounded like his name. Her nails were digging into the skin of his arms, but he didn't mind, didn't' even care. The pain was a goad to the pleasure that he was giving her, just knowing that she came apart like that just from him being inside her—it was almost like heaven. He bent down and brushed his lips across hers, carefully moving within her as her eyes slipped open again to meet his.

Her lips curved up in a faint smile, and Danny kissed her again as he quickened the pace, knowing from the way that she was breathing that she wasn't far from coming. It was something that he prided himself on, knowing that he could control himself and his own desires to make sure that she enjoyed herself as much, if not more, than him. But the control almost wasn't there her head fell back and his mouth found her throat as she throbbed around him. Danny had to force himself still for a moment before he lost control. She'd liked it the night he had, but this…

This was special.

There were tears in her eyes when she opened them again, he could see them clinging to her lashes, flames dancing off them in watery glints. "Please," she whispered, and Danny buried his face in Sam's neck as he moved again, the muscles along his back clenching as he drove himself and her again to the edge.

It was there again as he did. The want, the need to tell her how he felt. The plaguing desire to cry to the world how much he loved her. But in the end the words couldn't leave his throat as he plunged them both over the edge of the abyss. In the end the words were still inside as he held her in his arms, both of them trembling in the aftermath. Trapped and useless as she gave him a soft kiss and slid away and out of the bed and padded silently to the bathroom.

He heard the water turn on, the hiss of the shower, and couldn't help but to bury his face in his hands. For someone who was a hero, his courage was certainly failing.

He heard her get in and the soft spray of water hitting skin. He followed her in then, letting his hands glide across her back as she leaned into him, warm and wet. Her eyes were closed, and she was biting her lip again.

"Sam," he murmured above the sound of the water, turning her to face them. Her eyes opened, dark and lavender as he stared down at her. The words failed him again, so he lowered his mouth to hers. And if the water that stained her lips was a little saltier than it should have been, he said nothing about it.

---

He was awake long before her, his mind whirring into consciousness as the sun rose above the horizon. Danny didn't wake Sam. Instead he just watched, memorized the way she looked sleeping next to him. The way her hair spread like a dark mist on the pillow, the way his old shirt bunched p at her waist so that he could see the uninterrupted length of pale leg. They way that, even as she slept, she held on to him. It was almost like she couldn't bear being apart from him.

The sun rose higher and Danny's eyes finally flitted to the clock. He sighed when he saw that the alarm was going to go off in less than a minute and reached out with one hand to turn it off. Instead of letting the arm blare loudly he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, kissing her until he felt the pressure returned and she was moving next to him, her hands coming up to tangle in his hair as his pulled her close.

She pulled back with a sleepy yawn, and he smiled down at her trying to at least look happier than he really was. "It's time to get up. You've got half an hour before you have to check in."

The words were like ice water splashed in her face and the foggy pleasure Sam had felt at being wakened with a kiss evaporated as she realized that Danny was telling her that she had a half hour before she had to leave. She blinked rapidly trying to stall the burning in her eyes as she sat up and swung her legs over the bed putting her back to Danny. She nodded, unable to find her voice.

Danny could only watch as she disappeared into the bathroom, backpack in hand, with a whispered, "Call me a taxi," that brooked no argument.

He did, and when she emerged not ten minutes later the yellow car was already waiting at the curb in front of his building. The backpack was clutched in her hands and she didn't look at him as she stooped to pick up her other bag, slinging it across her should and grabbing the doorknob almost before Danny got to the door and stopped her.

He slapped one hand on the door to stop her from opening it and looked down at her, forcing her face up to meet his with one hand under her chin and glaring at her, half angry, mostly hurt. "Sam, what are you doing? You can't just go."

She tugged her face from his grip and closed her eyes. "I'm going to be late."

"Sam," he said softly, bringing his face down in an effort to kiss her. She stepped back before he could and he could only stare at her.

"Goodbye, Danny," she said, and she could see the way his face went blank in emotionless shock. She used it, the effects of her cold goodbye, to slip under his arm and wrench the door open, escaping into the morning light, leaving him behind.

She didn't close the door, didn't pause for a moment that Danny could hear. He could hear it clearly when she yanked the taxi door opened and slid inside with a harsh order for the airport, and the slam as she closed it echoed loudly enough that it nearly drowned out the engine as the car pulled away from the curb taking her away from him and, he could admit it in the face of her farewell, out of his life.

The taxi was well beyond hearing before Danny finally closed the door. When he did he turned and leaned against it for a long moment before his knees gave out and he slid into a huddled heap in behind it, his face buried against his arms as he tried to figure out what had just happened. She was gone, and he'd let it happen. She wasn't coming back, if she'd been planning on it she would never have left.

And, if he was completely honest with himself, Danny had never given her a reason to stay. He'd never once said anything to her to tell her that it was more than just sex, that it was just plain more.

He should have. The fact that he didn't made him hate himself. He'd held it all in, god, since they were kids, when he should have just told her. His fear, his cowardice was the reason she was gone.

The thought struck him in the space of a heartbeat: She hadn't left; he'd let her go.

That realization made him feel even worse that he already did, because that made what he'd done, what he hadn't said, worse than the way her own parents had hid their failing marriage. At least they had tried keeping it quiet in an effort to keep Sam happy and secure until they thought she was old enough, mature enough to cope with it. And he'd held his peace because… because he was a fool.

She was gone, and she wasn't coming back.

---

Sam had always been a strong person and she'd always been thankful to that core since she'd been young. Mostly the thankfulness had been Danny's fault. She'd spent far too much time worrying about his safety when he was off fighting ghosts. In reality she could readily admit that the only time her strength had failed her was in the face of her parents' divorce, and then she had relied on Danny and Tucker instead.

She didn't have Tucker at her side now, and she wouldn't have Danny either. So she relied on herself as she checked her bag, her brain on autopilot as she filled out s claim slip and slid it around the handle. Her boarding pass was tucked safely away in her backpack, slung over her shoulder as she threaded her way through the other passengers waiting to check their luggage, and into the line to pass through security. Time passed, unerringly whittled away as she waited there, and Sam forced herself to stay still, to stay calm. It was a trial in will not to think of Danny and the way that they'd parted.

Her composure stayed perfect until she was passed through security and she found her way to the escalator that led to the concourse. It seemed that almost the second that she set foot on it, that her hand found the rail and she could rely on something else to take her where she needed to go, that her mind woke up and she could hear him again. Hear the way he said her name as they made love, or the way he'd whispered it as he pulled her close to sleep. The sleepy way he would say it in the morning when he didn't really want to get up and tried to drag her back under the covers for a few more minutes.

She almost missed her step at the top of the escalator, but she caught herself just in time. It jarred her back to the present and she managed to wipe the tears from her eyes enough that she could find her way to her gate. It wasn't a difficult task; Amity Park's airport wasn't international and only had a dozen. Hers was gate seven, right in the middle of the concourse, and she found a seat on the far side of one of the planters where she was hidden by the massive leaves of the fake bush.

She sank into the seat and shoved her backpack underneath it as she curled in on herself, holding her arms tightly as she closed her eyes against the sunlight. "Danny… I didn't want to go. Why didn't you tell me to stay?" she whispered miserably to herself as she felt her eyes growing hot once again.

She laughed quietly, bitterly as she rubbed her eyes again with her sleeve. "Stupid, stupid me."

"Sam."

She bit her lip at the remembered sound of his voice.

"Sam. You can't just leave."

With a startled gasp she shot upright in the seat, tear streaked face whipping around to find him sitting next to her, eyes just as upset and shadowed as hers, if not as tearstained. "Danny, you can't be here."

He gave her a crooked grin. "What the use of having ghost powers if I can't slip past security?" he asked as he reached a hand out towards her, rubbing at her cheek with his thumb before leaning forward to brush his lips against hers. "Sam, I can't just let you go."

"But you already did," she said softly.

He shook his head. "No, Sam. I'm never letting you go. I love you too much to let you go."

Whatever she'd been planning on saying flew straight out of Sam's head at Danny's words, and her jaw dropped as she stared at him in numb silence. Without any warning Danny slid out of the chair he sat in and dropped to his knees in front of Sam, taking both of her hands in his. She could feel his hands shaking where they held hers.

"I can't promise you a happy ending, Sam," he said as he raised one hand to cup her cheek. "But I can promise that I'll never stop trying to make one with you." He leaned up and pressed another kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Just don't go like this, please."

And she found her voice.

"I have to go, but okay."

"Okay?" he echoed.

She nodded. "I can finish my semester, it's my last, and I can come back. Come home."

He grinned at her widely and she answered it with a smile of her own. "You can come home to me. This time, I'll make sure you don't have a reason to go."

"You love me, and I love you. That's reason enough," she whispered against his lips.

**I'm gonna make damn sure  
I just wanna break you down so badly  
I just wanna break you down so badly (damn sure)  
In the worst way (worst way)**

---

The Eagles album mentioned is _Hell Freezes Over_, the song (for you non-Eagles fans) is _Love Will Keep Us Alive_.

I don't know very much about the Mandalay other than that it exists, has a shark reef and a casino and several restaurants. I've no idea if one of them shares a wall with the reef. I have no idea if the casino works the way I described it. But I live down the road from the Hard Rock Casino, and I have some vague knowledge of how they work. Sorry if I shortchanged that scene; I promise I'll check out an episode of that _Las Vegas_ show and do a rewrite one day.

Please be sure to check out and participate in the Danny Phantom FanFic Awards!

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